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Iroquois Folk Lore 



Gathered from the Six Nations of New York. 



Selected and Arranged by the 



Rev.Wm. M. Beauchamp, S.T.D., LLD. 



FOR THE 



Onondaga Historical Association 



1922 



THE DEHLER PRESS 
SYBACUSE, N. T. 



^\J^- 



OCT 






IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

By the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, S.T.D., LL.D. 

At the request of this Association, now sixty years old, 
I select for my last publication some things from my large 
collection of Iroquois folk lore which may interest some, 
and which comes from many sources. 

As a charter member of the American Folk Lore Society 
in 1888, I had two papers in its first volume, and con- 
tinued this for many years, Indian themes being in de- 
mand. My first important pubic work of this kind was of 
a material nature, gradually approaching my present theme. 
Mr. Arthur C. Parker, my successor, went farther in this, 
and I have freely quoted from his admirable publications. 

The Bureau of Ethnology takes in a larger field, mainly 
in the West, and with a large staff, but in its second volume 
(1883) pubhshed Mrs. Erminnie A. Smith's "Myths of the 
Iroquois." She was a native of Marcellus, N. Y. Later the 
Bureau has published bi-lingual Onondaga, Mohawk and 
Seneca myths (vol. 21) by J. N. B. Hewitt, who aided Mrs. 
Smith. 

The Dutch told of Indian customs and superstitions, most- 
ly Algonquin. The Jesuits had written so much of a kindred 
people in Canada, that here they said little. The English 
knew little of the upper Iroquois till late in the 17th century. 
After the Revolution there was more direct contact and 
more became known. 



THE IROQUOIS TRAIL AND DAVID CUSICK 

When the Iroquois learned to speak and write English 
we found they had much to tell. David Cusick, 1825, the 
Tuscarora, first threw a lurid light on his people through 
his pictures and tales. My "Iroquois Trail," 1892, con- 
tains his history, and Mrs. Smith included some tales and 
four pictures. His chronology is a "long, long trail," in 
which Onondaga often appears. The creation of the Great 



4 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Island, the Great Turtle and the woman who fell from the 
upper world, the two children and their strife, the creation 
of the Onwe Honwe on the Kanawage or St. Lawrence 
river, and the shipwreck of some foreign people who at 
last became extinct — ^these lead the way. Then the northern 
giants troubled the people, but were driven off 2,500 years 
before Columbus came. A welcome peace followed, and then 
the Mischief Maker made trouble, as he always does. The 
Big Quisquis (hog) and the Big Elk attacked the towns 
south of Lake Ontario and were slain. A league was 
formed, with its council fire on the St. Lawrence. 

About 2,200 years before Columbus ambassadors went 
south to visit the great emperor living in the Golden City. 
He built forts near Lake Erie, and there was a hundred 
years war, which left his forts in ruins. The home people 
suffered. A great horned serpent lurked in Lake Ontario; 
a blazing star fell into a river fort ; the people fought each 
other till all were destroyed, wild animals alone remaining. 

Some, however, hid themselves in a hill at Oswego Falls, 
and were called thence by the Holder of the heavens, who 
led them down the Mohawk and Hudson to the sea. Most 
returned, settling as Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayu- 
gas and Senecas. Part went to Lake Erie and the Missis- 
sippi, but these five became the Five Nations. 

A century later the Flying Heads and Lake Serpent 
troubled them. They had to make forts. About 1,250 years 
before Columbus came the Stone Giants, who were cannibals 
and marched against Fort Onondaga. The Holder of the 
Heavens led them into a deep ravine and in the night rolled 
great stones on them. But one escaped. "The hollow, it is 
said, is not far from Onondaga." A land serpent also troub- 
led them, but the best Onondagas fought bravely and killed 
him. 

Now comes a thriller. About 1,000 years before Col- 
umbus came civil war and great Atotarho lived at Fort 
Onondaga. "His head and body was ornamented with black 
snakes; his dishes and spoons were made of skulls of the 
enemy; after a while he requested the people to change 

his dress ; the people immediately drove away the snakes 

a mass of wampum was collected and the chief was soon 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 5 

dressed in a large belt of wampum; he became a law giver, 
and renewed the chain of alliance of the Five Nations and 
framed their internal government, which took five years in 
accomplishing it. At Onondaga a tree of peace was planted 
which reached the clouds of Heaven ; under the shade of this 
tree the Senators are invited to set and deliberate, and 
smoke the pipe of peace as ratification of their proceedings ; 
a great council fire was kindled under the majestic tree, 
having four branches, one pointed to the south, west, east, 
north ; the neighboring nations were amazed at the powerful 
confederates; the Onondaga was considered a heart of the 
country; numerous belts and strings of wampum were left 
with the famous chief as record of alliance, etc., after he 
had accomplished the noble v»^ork he was immediately named 
Atotarho, King of the Five Nations, and was governed by 
the Senate, chosen by the people annually; the successor of 
the Kings to follow the woman's line." 

About this time the Senecas were defeated by the 
Squakies, but the Onondagas came to their aid and the foe 
lost the day, the Senecas extending their bounds to Oak 
Orchard creek. In the days of Atotarho II the Great Bear 
invaded the country. At Skonyatales lake, in Madison 
County, there was a dreadful fight between this and a lake 
lion. The bear was killed. "About this time a great mus- 
queto invaded the fort Onondaga; the musqueto was mis- 
chievous to the people, it flew about the fort with a long 
stinger, and sucked the blood of a number of lives." The 
Holder of the Heavens was one day "visiting the king at 
the fort Onondaga ; the musqueto made appearance as usual 
and flew about the fort, the Holder of the Heavens attacked 
the monster; it flew so rapidly that he could hardly keep 
in sight of it, but after a few days chase the monster began 
to fail ; he chased on the borders of the great lakes towards 
the sunsetting and round the great country ; at last he over- 
took the monster and killed it near the salt lake Onondaga, 
and the blood became small musquetoes." 

In the next reign the Oneidas built forts farther down 
the Susquehanna. In one a boy was born who became Big 
Neck, a giant. He made trouble, building a fort where he 
was afterward killed. 

In the reign of Atotarho IV, 800 years before Columbus, 



6 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

the double headed snake encircled the fort at Canandaigua 
lake, ate many of the Senecas, and was killed by a dream- 
ing boy. The fort was abandoned. 

Under Atotarho V, the Senecas and Ottawas were at war. 
A Seneca party near Lake Chautauqua, found a poisonous 
animal which killed many thro' pestilence. The war lasted 
long in a desultory way. 

Atotarho VI reigned 650 years before Columbus. Some 
Senecas went from the fort at Tonawanda to the Ohio river. 
There a furious Lizard destroyed all but one who was res- 
cued by the Holder of the Heavens in a lion's form. By 
burning the flesh as soon as bitten off the Lizard was des- 
troyed. The Ottawas, too, sued for peace. Thus, under the 
next Atotarho, an exploring expedition was sent and went 
to the Ohio and beyond the Mississippi. There they saw a 
flying fish and were welcomed by the Dog Tail Nation, with 
short tails. These sat on perforated seats, A giant stopped 
them before reaching the Rocky Mountains. One ambassa- 
dor went to Kentucky and another to the Ottawas. The 
latter had bad luck. 

Under Atotarho VHI, 400 years before Columbus, there 
was war between the Senecas and Missisaugas, and the 
latter planned to destroy Fort Kienuka. They were de- 
feated. An Onondaga hunter was captured by a Stone 
Giant in Canada and had a curious escape, bringing him 
good luck. It was at this time that the Nanticokes brought 
witchcraft here. Near Fort Onondaga 50 persons were 
burned for this. Near Oneida creek occurred the dead 
hunter episode. 

In the days of Atotarho IX, 350 years before Columbus, 
the Fries became powerful. At this time the Peace Queen 
reigned, but she took sides with the Fries. When she asked 
peace the Fries were left alone. At this time the Five 
Nations are said to have had 23,000 warriors, a wild esti- 
mate. 

Atotarho X reigned 250 years before Columbus. Another 
Great Bear appeared. 

Atotarho XI reigned 150 years before Columbus, and the 
Tuscaroras had aid from the Five Nations, coming north 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION ^ 

much later. At that time there was a comet, an earthquake, 
and a prophet foretold the white man's coming. 

Atotarho XII, 50 years before Columbus, saw war be- 
tween the Mohawks and Mohegans. The Oneidas and Onon- 
dages aided the former, defeating the latter, who at that 
time were between them and the Hudson. 

Atotarho XIII, 1492, saw the Eries and others destroyed. 

Despite his extravagant chronology David Cusick 
recorded many of the most persistent Iroquois tales, tell- 
ing them briefly, but as an Indian would have told them. 
The white man often mistakes, giving Algonquin names to 
Iroquois men and women, or interpretations of names which 
are far from the truth, as those of Oswego and Skaneateles. 



WRITERS IN GENERAL 

In Onondaga county, Mr. J. V. H. Clark, first president 
of our society, may be said to have begun the record of 
superstitions and tales in later days, and I regard those in 
his history as superior to those in his later "Lights and 
Lines of Indian Character," etc., 1854. Some later writers 
on Iroquois folk lore have been Lewis H. Morgan, Dr. 
Horatio Hale, Rev. John W. Sanborn, Wm. W. Canfield, 
De Cost Smith, Mrs. H. Maxwell Converse, Arthur C. Par- 
ker, Mrs. Helen F. Troy, David Boyle, Miss M. E. Trippe, 
Mrs. E. E. Emerson, H. R. Schoolcraft, Judge Dean, Mrs. 
N. P. Martin, with some Indians. Several of the former 
were good linguists, and had their information directly from 
Indians. Many others told of a few. With the valued aid 
of Albert Cusick and others on the Onondaga reservation, 
I collected much folk lore and some tales. My general 
record includes much from the Jesuit Relations and Mora- 
vian Journals. 



THE CREATION 

Mr. J. N. B, Hewitt gave bi-lingual Onondaga, Mohawk 
and Seneca versions of this, published by the Bureau of 
Ethnology, 1903. The Onondaga he had in 1889, from the 
late John Buck, Onondaga chief and fire-keeper on the 
Grand River reservation, Canada. The Mohawk version 



g IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

he had from the same place, and the Seneca from Cattar- 
augus. The arrangement is good. The translation is on 
the upper part of the page, arranged for our use. Below 
are the words as used by the Indians, with translation 
under each. This is fine for study, but tedious from minute 
detail and frequent repetition. I therefore give another 
simpler account. Though I copied Judge James Dean's in- 
teresting and early Oneida account in the N. Y. State 
Library, which includes some things not found in others, 
it seems better to take David Cusick's story, just as he 
wrote it. 



DAVID CUSICK ON THE CREATION 

"Among the ancients there were two worlds in existence. 
The lower world was in a great darkness, the possession 
of the great monster; but the upper world was inhabited 
by mankind ; and there was a woman conceived and would 
have the twin bom. When her travail drew near, and her 
situation seemed to produce a great distress on her mind, 
and she was induced by some of her relatives to lay herself 
on a mattress which was prepared, so as to gain refresh- 
ments to her wearied body ; but while she was asleep the 
very place sunk down towards the dark world. The mons- 
ters of the great water were alarmed at her appearance 
of descending to the lower world; in consequence, all the 
species of the creatures were immediately collected into 
where it was expected she would fall. When the monsters 
were assembled, and they made consultation, one of them 
was appointed in haste to search the great deep, in order to 
procure some earth, if it could be obtained ; accordingly the 
monster descends, which succeeds, and returns to the place 
Another requisition was presented, who would be capable 
to secure the woman from the terrors of the great water 
but none was able to comply except a large turtle that came 
forward and made proposal to them to endure her lasting 
weight, which was accepted. The woman was yet descend- 
ing from a great distance. The turtle executes upon the 
spot, and a small quantity of earth was varnished on the 
back part of the turtle.. The woman alights on the seat 
prepared, and she receives a satisfaction. While holding 
her, the turtle increased every moment, and became a con- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 9 

siderable island of earth, and apparently covered with small 
bushes. The woman remained in a state of unlimited dark- 
ness, and she was overtaken by her travail to which she 
was subject. While she was in the limits of distress one 
of the infants was moved by an evil opinion, and he was 
determined to pass out under the side of the parent's arm, 
and the other infant in vain endeavored to prevent his 
design. The woman was in a painful condition during the 
time of their disputes, and the infants entered the dark 
world by compulsion, and their parent expired in a few 
moments. They had the power of sustenance without a 
nurse, and remained in the dark regions. After a time the 
turtle increased to a great Island, and the infants were 
grown up, and one of them possessed with a gentle dis- 
position and named Enigorio, i. e., the good mind. The 
other youth possessed an insolence of character, and was 
named Enigonhahetgea, i. e,, the bad mind. The good mind 
was not contented to remain in a dark situation, and he was 
anxious to create a great light in the dark world, but the 
bad mind was desirous that the world should remain in a 
natural state. The good mind determined to prosecute his 
designs, and therefore commences the work of creation. 
At first he took the parent's head, (the deceased) of which 
he created an orb, and established it in the center of the 
firmament, and it became of a very superior nature to be- 
stow light to the new world, (now the sun) and again he 
took the remnant of the body, and formed another orb, 
which was inferior to the light, (now the moon.) In the 
orb a cloud of legs appeared to prove it was the body of 
the good mind, (parent.) The former was to give light to 
the day and the latter to the night; and he also created 
numerous spots of light, (now stars;) these were to regu- 
late the days, nights, seasons, years, etc. Whenever the 
light extended to the dark world the monsters were dis- 
pleased and immediately concealed themselves in the deep 
places, lest they should be discovered by some human beings. 
The /good mind continued the works of creation, and he 
formed numerous creeks and rivers on the Great Island, 
and then created numerous species of animals of the small- 
est and greatest, to inhabit the forests, and fish of all kinds 
to inhabit the waters. When he had made the universe he 
was in doubt respecting some being to possess the Great 



10 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Island ; and he formed two images of the dust of the ground 
in his own likeness, male and female, and by his breathing 
into their nostrils he gave them the living souls, and named 
them Ea-gwe-howe, i. e., a real people; and he gave the 
Great Island, all the animals of game for their mainten- 
ance ; and he appointed thunder to water the earth by fre- 
quent rains, agreeable to the nature of the system; after 
this the Island became fruitful, and vegetation afforded 
the animals subsistence. 

"The bad mind, while his brother was making the uni- 
verse, went throughout the Island and made numerous high 
mountains and falls of water, and great steeps, and also 
creates various reptiles which would be injurious to man- 
kind; but the good mind restored the Island to its former 
condition. The bad mind proceeded further in his motives, 
and he made two images of clay in the form of mankind; 
but while he was giving them existence they became apes, 
and when he had not the power to create mankind he was 
envious against his brother ; and again he made two of clay. 
The good mind discovered his brother's contrivances, and 
aided in giving them living souls. (It is said these had the 
most knowledge of good and evil) . 

"The good mind now accomplishes the works of creation, 
notwithstanding the imaginations of the bad mind were con- 
tinually evil; and he attempted to enclose all the animals 
of game in the earth, so as to deprive them from mankind ; 
but the good mind released them from confinement, (the 
animals were dispersed, and traces of them were made on 
the rocks near the cave where it was closed.) The good 
mind experiences that his brother was at variance with the 
works of creation, and feels not disposed to favor any of 
his proceedings, but gives admonition of his future state. 
Afterwards the good mind requested his brother to ac- 
company him, as he was proposed to inspect the game, etc., 
but when a short distance from their nominal residence, the 
bad mind became so unmanly that he could not conduct his 
brother any more. The bad mind offered a challenge to his 
brother and resolved that who gains the victory should 
govern the universe, and appointed a day to meet the con- 
test. The good mind was willing to submit to the offer, 
and he enters the reconciliation with his brother; which 
he falsely mentions that by whipping with flags would des- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION H 

troy his temporal life ; and he earnestly solicits his brother 
also to notice the instrument of death, which he manifestly 
relates by the use of deer horns, beating his body he would 
expire. On the day appointed the engagement commenced, 
which lasted for two days; after pulling up the trees and 
mountains as the the track of a terrible whirlwind, at last 
the good mind gains the victory by using the horns, as 
mentioned the instrument of death, which he succeeded in 
deceiving his brother, and he crushed him in the earth ; and 
the last words uttered from the bad mind were, that he 
would have equal power over the souls of mankind after 
death; and he sinks down to eternal doom, and became the 
Evil Spirit. After this tumult the good mind repaired to 
the battle ground, and then visited the people and retired 
from the earth." 

There are many variants of this storJ^ Judge Dean's 
is one of the best of these. In Van der Donck's early Mo- 
hawk version the woman comes from and returns to heaven, 
well pleased to have fulfilled her mission of being the uni- 
versal mother of all men and animals. In Hewitt's versions 
the woman who falls is the grandmother of the two boys, 
the good one being called Odendonnia or Sapling, in the 
Onondaga tongue, and the other Ohaa or Flint. Usually 
several animals dive to bring up mud to place on the Turtle. 
Some die in the attempt. In these recent accounts the ani- 
mals have a prominent place. 

The Abbe Gallinee, who visited the Seneca towns with 
the great explorer in 1669, had the creation myth from 
La Salle in quite a different form. After the fall of the 
woman, "a Spirit descending from the heavens with three 
arrows, passed two of them over her body. She conceived 
two male children, one of whom became a great hunter 
and was greatly beloved of his mother ; the other, being un- 
fortunate in the hunt and killing only lean beasts, his 
mother despised him. This one, afflicted by his misfortune 
and losing heart, the Spirit, his father, visited and con- 
soled him by promising to give him fortune in the hunt, 
and to teach him besides the art of building and agricul- 
ture. In fact he showed him the park where the fat beasts, 
which his brother killed in the hunt, were shut up, and led 
him under the waters, where he showed him a house built 
neatly and commodiously. He gave him the seeds of melons. 



jj IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

corn, etc. He then built for his mother a house of this 
model, gave her fruit and very good venison to eat, and be- 
gan to grow so much in her good graces as to cause his 
brother to be jealous. 

"A great serpent having destroyed all the men first made, 
the son invoked the aid of the Spirit, his father. He gave 
him the third arrow, and showed him how he must kill 
the serpent with it, and what he must do with the body. 
All was done, and men came again. The father at last be- 
came a beaver, and for this reason beavers understand 
building. From him spread the nation of the Iroquois." 

The game park, gifts and house appear in some N. Y. 
stories. 



FALSE FACES AND CREATION 

On the Grand River, in Canada, David Boyle relates 
myths connecting the Flying Heads and False Faces with 
the creation. Here is one: 

"After the making of the world and its people by Rawen 
Niyoh, he left it for a time, but when he returned he was 
one day walking through an open place, following the sun, 
overlooking his own work and examining the ground where 
the people were going to live, when his eye caught a strange, 
long-haired figure coming in the opposite direction. The 
face of this figure was red and twisted, the mouth being 
pulled up at the left corner. Rawen Niyoh (Hawenneyu) 
said to him: 'Where did you come from?' to which the 
False Face replied: 'I am the real owner of this world. 
I was here before you.' 

"Rawen Niyoh said, 'I think I am the owner of this 
place, because I made it.' That may be quite true,' the 
False Face assented, 'but I have been here a long time, and 
I have a good claim to it, and I am stronger than you are.' 
Show me how you can prove this,' demanded Rawen Niyoh. 

"The False Face suggested that they should retire to a 
valley not far from two high mountains. The False Face 
ordered one of the mountains to come nearer, and it moved 
close to them. Rawen Niyoh was very much surprised at 
the result, on which he ordered the other mountain to ap- 
proach, which it did — the two remaining so nearly together 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 13 

that Rawen Niyoh and the False Face had hardly room to 
get out." 

"Each was satisfied with this exhibition of power on the 
part of the other, and Rawen Niyoh said, 'I think it would 
not be well for you to be seen by the people who are com- 
ing to this place, because you are so ugly, for every one 
v/ould follow you to look at you.' Ak-on-wa-rah (the False 
Face) agreed to this on condition that he should be allowed 
to claim the new people as his grandchildren, and they were 
to call him Grandfather. *I will help all I can,' said he, 
'to drive away sickness from among the new people, and I 
am able to protect them from storms by causing the winds 
to go up high into the sky.' 

"Rawen Niyoh replied, *I am sure you have much power 
to help the people, and you must keep this power as long 
as they live. We will make a bargain. They shall be your 
grandchildren and you their Grandfather. They must ob- 
serve a dance — the False Face Dance — at the Long House 
forever. Now we make this bargain, which shall last as 
long as you and I, and the people and the world shall last.' 
Akonwarah replied, 'It is well'." In other stories the False 
Face fails to move the mountain. 

False Face orders are more in Canada than in New York, 
and as such will appear again. Some stories which I col- 
lected and published years ago in the Journal of American 
Folk Lore, will follow. Most of them I had at Onondaga 
from Albert Cusick. 



THE TERRIBLE SKELETON 

In old times the Onondagas lived on a much larger reser- 
vation than now — a great land, — but they made hunting 
parties to the Adirondacks. A party once went off in which 
were an old man, his daughter and her husband, and their 
little boy. They went one day and camped, and another 
day and camped, and then separated. The old man, his 
daughter and her husband turned one way, but the little 
boy accidentally went the other with his uncle. The three 
kept on, and late in the day found an empty cabin in a 
clearing. There w^as an Indian bedstead on each side within. 



14 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

and as no one seemed to live there they resolved to stay 
for the night. They gathered plenty of fuel, stripping long 
pieces from the shag-bark hickory, built a fine fire, spread 
their deerskins on the rude bedsteads, and then went to 
sleep — the old man on one side, and the man and his wife 
on the other. 

When the fire became low and it grew dark in the cabin, 
the young people were aroused by a sound like a dog gnaw- 
ing a bone. They stirred about and the noise ceased, but 
was followed by something like rattling bones overhead. 
They arose and put on more fuel, and were going back to 
bed when they saw a dark stream from the other couch. 
It was blood and the old man was dead. His clothes were 
torn open and his ribs broken and gnawed. They covered 
him and lay down again. The same thing happened the 
second time, and this time they saw it was a terrible skele- 
ton, feeding on the dead man. They were frightened and 
in v/hispers devised a plan of escape. They made a greater 
fire, and the wife said to her husband, **I am so thirsty; 
I must go to the spring and have a long drink." She went 
quietly out, but a little way off ran with all her might to- 
ward her own country. 

When her husband thought she had a good start he made 
a very big fire, to last a great while, and then he said, 
"What has become of my wife? I am afraid she is drowned 
in the spring. I must go and see." So he went out, and 
a little way off he, too, ran with all his might, and when he 
overtook his wife he caught her by the arm and they ran 
on together. By and by the fire went down, the skeleton 
came again, and when he found both were gone he started 
in chase. Soon they heard him howling terribly behind 
them and ran the faster for this. 

It happened that night that the Onondagas had a great 
dance and it now drew near morning. The fugitives heard 
the drum far away, tum-tum, tum-tum, and ran faster and 
shouted, but the skeleton did the same. They heard the 
drum again tum-tum, tum-tum, and it was nearer and they 
shouted again. Their friends heard the distress-hallo and 
came with all their arms. The skeleton fled. The fugitives 
fainted and did not regain their senses for four hours. Then 
they told their story. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 15 

A council was held and the worriers started for the 
dreadful spot. They found the hut and a few traces of the 
old man. In the loft were some scattered articles and a 
bark cofRn. In this was the skeleton of a man left un- 
buried by his friends. It was determined to destroy every- 
thing. Fuel was gathered and fire applied. The warriors 
stood around with bended bows and raised hatchets. The 
fire grew hot, the cabin fell in, and out of the flames rushed 
a fox with red and fiery eyes, dashed through the ranks 
and disappeared in the forest. The dead hunter was seen 
no more. 

"But what had the little boy to do with all this?" 

"0, that is to show it was well he went the other way." 

David Cusick briefly related the above, but I had this 
from Albert Cusick, Sa-go-na-qua-de, his grand-nephew, as 
well as the next. Both stories were published in 1888, as 
he related them to me. The lakes mentioned below are in 
the group at Tully and the tale is unique, though with some 
features peculiar to the thunder god stories. It is their 
mission to destroy harm.ful serpents and other pests. There 
are many Oneidas on the Onondaga reservation. 



THE SERPENT AND THE THUNDERERS 

Sa-go-na-qua-de, "He who makes every one angry," told 
me tbis story, which I reproduce nearly in his own words. 
An old Oneida came into his aunt's house at Onondaga 
Castle, and after all had given him the customary tobacco, 
the story-teller's fee, he related the following tale : 

A long time ago, in an Indian settlement, were two wig- 
wams not far apart, and in these lived two squaws who were 
very good friends. They had two children of about the 
same age,, who played together, and when they had little 
bows and arrows they shot together. As they grew bigger 
.they wanted stronger bows and arrows, and their uncles 
made some for them. They used these every day, and be- 
came skilful in killing birds and small game, and then asked 
for some' still stronger, that they might kill larger animals. 
They were now young men and good hunters. One of them, 
being . handsome and kind, was ver^ much liked by the 



J5 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

women and some of the maidens would have married him, 
but he refused all offers. At last his friend talked with 
him, and told him he had better marry, or something might 
happen for which he would be sorry. This troubled him, 
and he said he would soon choose a wife, but first they 
would have a long hunt together. 

They got ready for this, telling their mothers they were 
going away on a great hunt, far from their village, and 
might be gone many days. So their mothers took some com 
and roasted it, and then pounded this into meal in their 
wooden mortars. This was light and would keep a long 
time. The young men filled their sacks, took their bows, 
and went to their hunting ground. They walked all day 
and camped in the woods. They walked all the next day, 
and camped on the hunting ground, where they soon built 
a wigwam. 

After this they hunted every day, and one was lucky and 
brought home a great deal of game, but the one whom the 
girls liked came home without any, and said very little. 
This happened for several days, and the one who had been 
so happy and such a favorite seemed sorry all the time. 
Every morning they went to hunt in opposite directions, 
and one day his friend thought he would follow him and see 
what he did. They went out as before, and after he had 
walked a little way the lucky hunter turned back into the 
other's path. He soon saw him running very fast through 
the woods and hurried after him, calling to him to stop, 
but he did not. They ran till they came to a lake, and the 
first one plunged into the water and swam across, while his 
friend went around the shore. The swimmer got there first, 
paying no attention to his loud calls. They ran on to a 
second smaller lake, where they did the same, but this 
time the one on shore got ahead. The sorry young man 
then turned back, and his friend ran past both lakes, and 
was hiding in the bushes when the other came ashore. As the 
swimmer entered the other jumped out and caught him, 
asking what was the matter and why he acted so strangely. 

At first the young man could say nothing and seemed 
to know nothing, but soon came to his senses. He told his 
friend that he was going to be married and must leave 
him all alone, for he could not go back to his home. If 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 17 

he wished to see him at any time, he might come to the 
lake, bringing fresh Indian tobacco and clean clay pipes. 
These things he must lay on bark just from the tree, and 
must then say to the lake, "I want to see my friend." So 
he went off another way and married the big serpent in 
the lake. When he had gone his friend went back to the 
wigwam, and he, too, was very sorry and did not wish to 
hunt. He built a fire and sat down alone. 

It was very still for a long time, and then he heard some 
one coming. When he turned around a young man stood 
in the doorway, dressed in white and with white feathers 
on his head. The visitor said, "You seem to be in trouble, 
but for all that you are the only one that can help us. My 
chief has sent me to invite you to our council." Then he 
gave him wampum, to show that he brought a true mes- 
sage. The hunter said, "Where is the council?" The 
young man in white answered, "Why, you came right by 
our wigwam in the woods, though you did not see it. Fol- 
low me, and you will find it quite near." So he went with 
him, not very far, till he saw smoke rising from the ground, 
and then a wigwam. Going in, he saw eight chiefs sitting 
quietly on the ground. All had white feathers on their 
heads, but the principal chief had larger feathers than the 
rest. They gave him a place, and the hunter sat down 
and smoked with them. When the pipe came round to the 
principal chief, he rose and spoke to the young man : 

"You have come to help us, and we have waited for you 
^ long time." The young man said, "How can I help you?" 
The chief answered, "Your friend has married the big ser- 
pent in the lake, whom we must kill. He has told you 
how to call him when you want to see him, and we will 
furnish the tobacco and pipes." The chiefs then gave him 
clean pipes and fresh tobacco, and the hunter took these 
and went to the lake. The principal chief said also, "When 
your friend comes you must ask to see his wife. She will 
want to knoY>' if the sky is clear. When she com.es you 
must take them a little way from the lake and talk to them 
there. The chiefs will come in the form of a cloud; on 
the lake, not in the sky." 

So he took the fresh tobacco, the clean bark and pipes, 
and laid them by the shore. Then he stood by the water 



Ig IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

and called loudly for his friend, saying he was going away 
and wished to see him once more. Soon there was a ripple 
out on the lake, and the water began to boil, his friend 
coming out of it. He had a spot on his forehead, and looked 
like a serpent and yet like a rnan. His friend talked with 
him, asking what he should say to his mother when he got 
home. Then he asked to see his wife that he might tell his 
mother what she was like. The serpent man said that she 
might not v/ish to come but he would try. So he went to 
the shore and lay down, placing his lips to the water and 
beginning to drink. Then the hunter saw him going down 
through the water, not swimming like a man but moving 
like a snake. Soon the water boiled again and he came 
back, saying that his wife would come, but she did not. 
Then he looked around to see if the sky was clear; and 
went to the shore once more, drinking again and going 
down in the water like a snake. 

Now a greater sight was seen. The lake boiled again, 
not in one spot but all over, and great waves rolled up on 
the shore as though there had been a strong wind, but there 
was none. The waves grew larger, and then the serpent 
man's wife came out of the water. She was very beautiful 
and shone like silver, but the silver seemed like scales. 
She had long hair falling all around her, as though it had 
been gold and silver glittering in the sun. Her husband 
came v/ith her through the waves and upon the shore, and 
all three sat down on a log and talked together. 

The hunter remembered the chief's words, and at last 
saw something like a cloud a great way off, moving upon 
the water and not through the sky. Then he asked them 
to go into the woods, where the sun was not so hot, and 
there talk with him. When they did this he said he must 
step aside, and then he ran away, as the chiefs had told 
him. As he ran, a great cloud came at once over every- 
thing, and terrible thunder and lightning followed where 
they had sat, with rain everywhere. 

At last all was quiet again and the hunter went back 
to the lake, where a big and a little serpent lay dead on 
the ground. They were the serpent woman and his friend. 
The eight chiefs were there, too, and had a dance, rejoicing 
over their dead enemy. When this was over they cut up 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 19 

both serpents, making eight equal bundles of them. Each 
chief put one on his back and then they were ready to go. 
All thanked the young m^n for what he had done, and told 
him he would always be lucky, saying, "Ask us for what 
you want at any time, and you shall have it." Then they 
went off through the woods in Indian file, and as he looked 
they seemed to step higher and higher, until they went up 
to the sky. Then there was a great thunder storm, for the 
chiefs were the Thunderers. 

The hunter went back to his wigwam, but it w^as quiet 
and lonesome and he was sad; so he took down part of his 
meat, carrying it a half day's journey into the woods, where 
he hung it up on the trees. Then he returned for more, 
doing the same with the rest until he got home, where he 
told the story to the mother of his friend. She was very 
sorry for the death of the son whom she had loved, but 
adopted him in his place, and so the young man had two 
mothers. 

So far, the old Oneida said, it was "all a true fact," but 
he had an opinion about the place which was not a part 
of the story. He thought Crooked Lake, in a group of lakes 
far up the valley, was the first lake the young man swam 
across, and Round Lake the second. This seemed likely to 
him, but it was only his opinion. 



0-KWEN-CHA, OR RED PAINT 

Out of my collection of Iroquois folk lore I select some 
that are distinctly Onondaga. My friend, Albert Cusick, or 
Sa-go-na-qua-de, began writing this story, but, finding it 
slow work, he dictated the rest to me and I took it down 
with care, reproducing his words as well as I could. He 
rem.arked the three trials, which are so frequent a feature 
of European tales, and other things may be noted, but 
others are early and typically Indian, such as the bones and 
the tree. Cusick thought this a genuine old Onondaga 
story. He had it from Bill Lije or Soo-noo-weh, a famous 
story teller over half a century ago. 

There was once, a long time ago, a little boy named 
0-kwen-cha or Red Paint, who lived with his old grand- 



20 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

mother in an old Ka-no-sa hon-we, or old-fashioned house, 
which had no windows and but one doorway. The door 
was made out of the skins of wild animals, such as deer, 
bears, wolves and foxes. The old skin door was so old 
that nearly all the fur had disappeared, and the smoke 
stack was so large that, a little way off, the old house 
seemed to have no roof. This smoke stack was its win- 
dow and chimney. But the old Ka-no-sa hon-we had a 
roof of bark, covered with moss. The bark was so old 
that a young maple was growing on the roof, and the moss 
was so thick that the bark could not be seen from the 
outside. The inside of the old cabin had no floor, and the 
fireplace was in the center, on the bare ground. On one 
side of its walls were hung dried venison and bears' meat. 
On another were war clubs, bows and arrows, feather 
heads, buckskin leggings, coats and moccasins. These had 
not been used for many moons. There was also a ga- 
na-cho-we, or Indian drum, and many other things used in 
hunting, dancing and war were hung on these old bark 
walls. 

0-kwen-cha's grandmother did all the work, brought all 
the wood and killed all the game. Many a time she returned 
with a deer or a bear on her back, and sometimes brought 
a string of fish, so that they always had plenty to eat. She 
went away every day but always told him, when about to 
leave, that he must not touch the drum that hung upon 
the wall. 

He was a very small boy, about knee high, and his clothes 
were made of the skins of different wild animals. The coat 
which he wore was a fox skin, and his leggings the skin 
of a white weasel. His belt was a rattlesnake's skin, and 
his feather head-dress was made of the feathers of a par- 
tridge. In his belt were stuck a war club, a stone toma- 
hawk and a bone scalping knife. On his back hung his 
arrow pouch, full of arrows, which his uncles had made for 
him many moons ago. His bow was made from a rib of a 
Ka-ya-kwa-ha, or Mammoth Bear. All his face was painted 
with streaks of red, that could not be washed off. That 
was why he was called 0-kwen-cha, or Red Paint. 

So you can imagine how he looked with his wild Indian 
dress. He was never allowed to go out of this Ka-no-sa 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 21 

hon-we, or cabin, so he amused himself, day by day, shoot- 
ing at the flies and fleas, and some times at his grand- 
mother's old moccasins. 

In this cabin were four beds that no one had slept in 
for many moons. 0-kwen-cha had his mind full of these 
things, and sometimes would sit and think what the beds 
were for, and why he was so often told not to touch the 
Indian drum, and why he was not allowed to go hunting 
with his grandmother and be out of doors. While in these 
deep thoughts he would get up and give a little war whoop, 
and then say to himself that he was a young man and as 
good a runner as any warrior; that he could hunt, as he 
had killed many flies and bugs. This made him bold, and 
sometimes he would say, "I could kill a bear like this." 
Then he would take an arrow from his pouch and shoot 
at the dry bear's meat on the wall. Then he would pull 
the arrow out of the meat, and look at the point for fresh 
blood. 

One day, getting tired with his games, he thought he 
would amuse himself with something new. Thinking what 
it should be, he set him mind on the ga-na-cho-we, or Indian 
drum. So he got upon the bed and reached the drum. As 
soon as he got down he said to himself, "This is the way 
I think my uncles used to do." Then he began to drum and 
to chant his war song: "Ha-wa-sa-say ! Ha-wa-sa-say !" 
etc. Then came his uncles from under the four beds, danc- 
ing the war dance. When they did this their dancing was 
heard throughout the world. 

0-kwen-cha's grandmother was at the end of the world 
when he danced with his uncles, and she heard the beating 
of the drum and dancing, as plainly as if she had been in 
her ow^n cabin. So she ran home at once and when his 
grandmother ran her steps were heard throughout the 
world. So the world and its people, and the bad men with 
magic powers (orenda), heard the beating of the drum and 
the dancing, and the running of the old woman. Then the 
people said, "He, Ha! (i. e.. Ho, ho!). So Cho-noo-kwa-a- 
nah (i e., Uncombed Coarse Hair), is in trouble again. We 
will soon know which of the men with magic powers will 
try to take her life, or her children's life, if she has any 
more left." 



22 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

While he was beating ,his drum, 0-kwen-cha heard his 
grandmother running home. He got right down and put 
the drum in its place; but he was very sorry to do this, 
for he lost the fun he had had with his uncles. When the 
drum was hung up they were no more to be seen. He looked 
under the beds whence he saw them come, but they were 
not there. So he went back and put more wood on the fire, 
listening for his grandmother's footsteps. At last she came, 
with the sweat on her face and all out of breath. "Oh, 
my grandchild," she said, "what have you been doing? 
Oh, you have caused my death ! You have killed me ! What 
have you been doing?" 

He replied, "Oh, nothing, only I have been making your 
old moccasins dance. Oh, it was real fun to see your moc- 
casins dance!" But Cho-noo-kwa-a-nah, his grandmother, 
said, "But whose foot-tracks are these on the dust?" "Oh, 
those are your moccasin tracks," he said, "just see what 
I can do." So he went to a corner and got her old moc- 
casins, putting them in a row and then taking his bow and 
arrows. He then began to beat on the string of his bow 
and sang his war song, "Ha-wa-sa-say ! Ha-wa-sa-say !" 
and the old moccasins danced till the cabin was full of dust. 
"Oh," said his grandmother, "0-kwen-cha is quite a witch!" 

She went off the next day, and he had the dance of his 
uncles again. Again the world heard the drum and danc- 
ing, and the running of the old woman. When she came 
he repeated the moccasin dance. On the third day he made 
his uncles dance again, and the world heard the drum and 
dancing, and the running of Cho-noo-kwa-a-na. 

This time she had not been very far, so she caught him 
with the drum still in his hands. She had said hardly 
a word when a very tall man appeared. He was so tall 
that he could not walk into the cabin, but had to crawl 
on his hands and knees, and to stoop down as he talked. 
This was what he said: "Three days from to-day you 
are to appear at my place, and be ready for a grand wrest- 
ling match. We are to bet for our heads. If I throw you 
three tim.es I will cut your head off, and if you throw 'me 
three times you may cut my head off and save your life." 
His name was Sus-ten-ha-nah, or "He Large Stone," for he 
lived on a very large flat stone. He lived on human flesh 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 23 

and never was beat in wrestling. He cut off the heads of 
all whom he threw and ate their flesh. 

As soon as he left, Cho-noo-kwa-a-nah made ready to go 
to the large flat stone. It was a three days' journey. As 
she left her cabin she said to 0-kwen-cha, "You must stay 
here and not go out of doors, for you have plenty to eat 
and plenty of wood. Only hope that I may throw and kill 
Sus-ten-ha-nah when we wrestle." So she went away, feel- 
ing very sorrowful, for she knew that her days had now 
come to an end. 

She journeyed a day. In the evening she made a fire, ate 
her dried bear's meat, and stayed over night. In the morn- 
ing she ate again and took her journey. About noon, on 
the third day, she reached the place where Sus-ten-ha-nah 
lived. He was anxious for her coming, for now he was 
very hungry. He had eaten up all that came in his way, 
all that lived near and far, and all the game he could find. 
He was a great eater. He would eat a whole bear or deer 
at a single meal, and now he had eaten nothing for a long 
time. 

Cho-noo-kwa-a-nah got up on the flat stone. Hardly had 
she done this when Large Stone seized her by the neck 
and was going to throw her on the stone. Just then he 
heard some one calling to him, "Here, here! that is not 
the way to wrestle. Here, here ! give me the chance, grand- 
mother !" Sus-ten-ha-na stopped to see where the voice came 
from. He was looking afar off and said "Ho, ho! plenty 
of game to-day!" The voice came again, "I say, grand- 
mother, give me the chance!" She loooked around, when 
0-kwen-cha appeared, coming through the stone and say- 
ing, "Give me the chance! give me the chance to wrestle!" 

Red Paint, small as he was, was now very powerful in 
magic. "Ho, ho," said Large Stone, "So you want to 
v/restle with me, do you? What do you amount to?" said 
he, at the same time clutching him by the legs. He tore his 
body in two pieces and threw them aside. Then he went at 
Coarse Hair again, but up came 0-kwen-cha again, crying, 
"Give me the chance, grandmother!" So she let him try 
again. 

He threw Large Stone three times, and then Sus-ten-ha- 



24 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

nah said, "Now you can cut off my head." So he knelt 
down to give 0-kwen-cha a chance. As soon as this was 
done the head flew high up in the air, and Red Paint and 
his grandmother wondered when it went up so high. The 
body remained kneeling. While they looked the head came 
down again, and stuck to the body. Then 0-kwen-cha took 
his bone scalping knife and cut off the head again. Then 
the head flew up again for three times. The third time, 
when the head flew up, the boy said to his grandmother, 
"Let us draw the body to one side," and they laid it on the 
flat stone. When the head came down it struck on the 
stone, and that flew into a thousand pieces, which were 
scattered all over the world. That is why we have stones 
lying about everywhere. The head also broke into a thou- 
sand pieces, which flew all over the earth, and the brains 
became snails and that is why they are found everywhere. 
(Ge-sen-weh is the Onondaga word for both snails and 
brains.) 

Thus 0-kwen-cha killed Sus-ten-ha-nah. His grand- 
mother said, "Now we have killed our enemy we will go 
home." But he replied, "No! we have lived below long 
enough. Now I have to go after my uncles." Then he told 
her to go home alone. When she had gone, he gathered 
all the bones that lay there, of those whom Sus-ten-ha-nah 
had killed, and put them all together in a row — all that 
he could find. Then he went to a great hickory tree which 
stood there, and called out, "Euch! Euch!" or "Take care! 
take care! This tree will fall over you; you had better 
get out of the way !" He pushed hard on the tree, and the 
big tree fell, and the bones came to life and began to run 
away. Some had short backs, and some short legs, and 
some had big heads on little bodies, or little heads on big 
bodies; while some had the heads of bears, and others of 
deer or wolves, for the right bones had not always come 
together. 

When Red Paint saw how oddly they looked, he made 
them exchange heads and bodies, and all other parts that 
did not match; so that the men looked like men, and the 
bears and deer as bears and deer should. Then the people 
wanted Red Paint to stay with them and be their chief; 
but he said, "No. Go back to your own homes and your 
ov/n people, your fathers and your m.others." He found one 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 25 

of his uncles in the crowd, and told him to go home to his 
grandmother. "Tell her," he said, "I am going to find my 
other three uncles." Then all the people went to their 
homes, and Red Paint made his journey again. 

When the evening came he built a little fire and lay down 
for the night. On the third day of his journey he heard 
an Indian drum some where, he could not tell where. In 
the evening he built a fire again, and heard the drum all 
the time. Then he went to sleep, but when he woke again 
he found himself a great way from his fire, and dancing. 
He was going toward the drum. He said "He, He ! the old 
fellow is quite a witch!" When he journeyed in the morn- 
ing he went toward the drum again, and heard it all the 
day, but did not see it. He stopped again and made a fire. 

The same thing happened again, and he found himself 
dancing in the morning. The sound grew louder, and the 
third day he came to an opening, where there was a great 
crowd. A big man was beating the drum very hard, as 
he sat by a kettle of boiling soup. The people were danc- 
ing around very hungry, and waiting for him to give them 
some soup. Every little while he grabbed one of them and 
ate him, while Red Paint stood a little way off to see what 
he was doing. 

Then Red Paint took his war club and ran at the man, 
whose name was Kah-nah-chu-wah-ne, or He Big Kettle. 
When he ran at him he hit him on the forehead with his 
club, but he seemed not to notice it at all. He hit him 
again, and the third time Kah-nah-chu-wah-ne looked up 
and scratched his forehead, saying, "It seems to me the mos- 
quitoes bite." Red Paint called out, "They do bite, and I 
will show you some more of that." He Big Kettle tried to 
catch him, but Red Paint got hold of him and they began 
fighting. In the midst of this 0-kwen-cha took his bone 
scalping knife again, and cut off his head, throwing it into 
the big kettle of soup. The people were very glad when 
they saw this, and wanted Red Paint to be their chief, but 
he said he could not, for he had something else to do. 
Then they wanted something to eat, but he said, "If you 
eat the soup in the kettle you will all die." So he sent 
them away to their own homes, their fathers and mothers, 
their wives and children. 



26 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

After they had gone away, he broke in pieces the big 
kettle and big drum. Also he made a big fire, and when 
he had cut Kah-nah-chu-wah-ne's body in pieces he threw it 
into the fire. When every thing was destroyed, he gath- 
ered all the bones, and placed them in a row on the ground, 
near a big pine tree. He gathered all he could find, and 
arranged them as well as he could, by their appearance. 
Then he pushed hard against the tree and called out, "Euch ! 
Each! Look out! look out! this tree is going to fall on 
you." Then the bones came to life and ran out of the 
way. But some had long arms and some short ; the heads 
had sometimes got on the wrong bodies, and he had to ex- 
change different parts, until all appeared as men, deer and 
bears should. He found one of his uncles there and said, 
"You must go home to my grandmother, and tell her I 
am going to find my other two uncles." So he sent all 
to their homes and went on alone, going west all the time. 

When he had traveled three days he heard the barking 
of a dog, as though it were a great v/ay off. He went in 
that direction all day, without seeming to come near him. 
He built a fire and camped that night, but when he had 
traveled all the next day he had not seen the dog. On 
the third day he met a tall man, whose flesh was eaten on 
his legs from his feet to his thighs. When 0-kwen-cha 
first saw the man he stopped and looked, and he was a great 
way off. Then he saw the dog running after the man, and 
biting great pieces of flesh from his legs. The man cried 
out, as if in great pain, every time the dog bit him. 

Then Red Paint said, "I wish my dogs were here to fight 
this dog." So he whistled for his dogs to come. The dogs 
were Ok-wa-e, the Bear, and Ku-hah-sen-tea-tah or Lion. 
These were his dogs, as he called them. He set them on 
the dog which bit the man. Lion and Bear pitched on the 
dog, killed and tore him in pieces. Then Red Paint said to 
his dogs, "Go back to your places till I call you again." He 
then put spittle on the tall man's legs, and the fi°8sh healed 
up till all was right again. Then he saw that he had found 
his third uncle. He told him to go back to his grandmother, 
for there would be no dangers on the way. All these were 
now over. He said, too, "I am going to find my other uncle. 
Tell my grandmother I will soon be back." 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 27 

Red Paint went on. He had journeyed three days when 
he came to a settlement, and at once went to find some one 
who was very poor. On one side of the reservation (settle- 
ment) he found a little boy and made friends with him. 
They soon became great friends, and the boy asked him to 
go to his home and stay with him. He lived there quite a 
while, and they often went out hunting with bows and ar- 
rows. The little boy had a small bow, but 0-kwen-cha's 
was of the rib of the Mammoth Bear. He was a good 
hunter and killed much game. 

At last these boys became such good hunters that they 
brought in partridges or wild turkeys almost every day. 
Sometimes they had a deer or bigger game. The boy's 
mother liked Red Paint, because he was such a good hunter, 
and would have been very sorry to part with him had he 
v.'ished to go home. 

One day the little boy, Red Paint's friend, told him that 
there was to be a great feast at the council house that night. 
There would be dancing and many things to amuse the 
people. There would be big kettles of soup for the feast, and 
they would make wampum, too. 0-kwen-cha said, "How 
is this, that the people make wampum?" His friend an- 
swered, "They are going to hang up a human being's skin 
on a long pole. This skin the people have had for many 
moons past. When they want to make wampum they take 
the soup and pour it in the mouth of the skin, and as it 
passes through it turns into wampum and falls down." 

Now this skin was the very one Red Paint wanted. He 
asked his friend to go with him that night, when they held 
their great feast, and he replied, "I'll ask my mother and 
see what she says about it." But she said, "No, you two 
had better stay at home. The people will run around and 
I am afraid they will run over you." But on the night of 
the dance 0-kwen-cha had already made up his mind what 
to do. 

Quite late in the evening, when the whole nation was 
gathered at the long house, he went over, and there he saw 
a great crowd of people. Then he said, "I wish Tah-hun- 
tik-skwa, the bat, would come here. Then I wish that Che- 
ten-ha, the mouse, would come. And I wish that Tah-hoon- 
to-whe, the long eared owl, would be here." All came and 



28 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

he told them what to do. He said to Tah-hun-tike-skwa, the 
bat, "You may amuse the people by flying around, so that 
they will chase you." He told Che-ten-ha, the mouse, to 
climb up on the pole and gnaw off the cords which held up 
his uncle's skin. He told Tah-hoon-to-whe, the owl, to fly 
to and fro, between him and the mouse, to tell him how 
the mouse got along. 

So the bat flew into the council house, and the people 
had great sport flying around and trying to catch him. 
After a while the owl came to him and said, "The cords are 
almost broken now.' The owl also went into the long house 
and told the bat that their work was about done. Then 
the owl and bat flew off and left the people, who were al- 
most breathless. The sweat ran from their brows, so lively 
a time had they had in chasing the bat. When they had 
cooled off, a chief made a speech about the ceremony now 
to take place, but, while he was speaking. Red Paint went 
and took his uncle's skin away. When he did this he stopped 
and thought, "I wish all to sleep." He went back to the 
council house and found all asleep. 

Then he said, "I'll pay you for taking my uncle's skin." 
So he went in and cut off the leading man's head, taking it 
with him and hiding his uncle's skin. He had gone but a 
little way when the people woke up, and found that the 
principal chief's head had been cut off and carried away. 
When they went to find the skin, that was gone too. Then 
there was a big stir, and some said they knew Red Paint 
was on the reservation and had done this, for they had 
seen him on one side of the village with the little boy. 
Then there was a greater stir, and some cried, "Where is 
he? Look for him! Search for him! Kill him!" Then 
Red Paint pretended to be looking, too, and halloed from 
where he was in the dark, but a little way off, "Here he is ! 
here he is !" Then they began to chase him. He ran ahead 
of the rest calling on them to follow. "There he is !" said 
he, "there he is, over yonder." But he carried the chief's 
head all the time, while pretending to be one of them. They 
ran a long way off, and some got out of breath and went 
back, giving up the chase. 

Then 0-kwen-cha went back to the council house about 
daylight. "There,' he said, "I have killed the man who 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 29 

stole the skin. I have killed the man who cut off our chiefs 
head." So they thought it was Red Paint's head, and when 
he threw it into the crowd they kicked it around, having 
a game of foot ball with it. While they did this he slipped 
off and got his uncle's skin from the place where he had left 
it. When he had run very far off some one noticed the 
head and said, "Why, this is our chief's head and not O- 
kwen-cha's!" When they lifted it, so it was. Then they 
said, "Red Paint has cheated us again !" There was another 
great stir, and they shouted, "Chase him ! kill him !" They 
threatened to catch him and take his skin off, too. But 
he was very far off by that time. It was too late. 

When Red Paint was going homeward by himself, he 
found it very lonesome. "Why should I not have company," 
he said to himself, "while I have my uncle with me?" Then 
he began to breathe in the mouth of the skin, and the last 
of his four uncles came to life again. So they journeyed 
on together, having a pleasant time. 

When he reached his grandmother's, she had fastened 
the old door very tight, so that no one could come in. He 
rapped at the door and begged and begged her to open it. 
He said, "Grandmother, I have got back now with my 
fourth uncle. Open the door!" But all the answer they 
had was a cry. They begged and begged again for a long 
time, but all the answer was the old grandmother's cry. 
At last they broke the door in. 

When they got inside. Red Paint found his grandmother 
had become very old, and was bending over a little fire, 
trying to get warm. The dust and ashes lay on her back 
about an inch thick. She always cried now when any one 
rapped at the door, because, after Red Paint was gone, the 
rabbits would come and rap at the door. Sometimes the 
squirrels would come and say, "Grandmother, I have got 
back." This they did to fool her, making her think it was 
Red Paint. When she opened the door away would run a 
rabbit or squirrel. This made her cry when any one came 
and rapped, for she said, "It is only a rabbit, a squirrel or a 
coon. You are fooling me ;" for she was very old. 

When he saw her look so old. Red Paint said, "I will 
make a young woman out of my grandmother yet." Then 
he took a little stick and stuck it in the back of her ear, 



30 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

under the loose skin, and twisted it till all the wrinkles were 
straightened out, and her face became smooth again. His 
grandmother looked up, with not a wrinkle on her face, 
and seemed a handsome young woman. Then she turned 
around and Red Paint stood there. She knew him at once, 
and was so glad that she felt young again all over. 

0-kwen-cha said, "Now we will fix up the old house." 
He went around and looked at it, and said, "I want it such a 
size," and at once there was a nice new house where the 
old kanosa honwe had been. Just then the other three, 
uncles came along. They had been hunting on the way 
and had not traveled fast, but they brought plenty of bear's 
meat, which they had dried on the hunting grounds. So 
0-kwen-cha restored his family, and when I came away 
they were all living happily. 

"When I came away," is the proper ending of an Onon- 
daga story. The bones and falling trees appear in early 
Iroquois legends. This year (1921) I had a variant in a 
Caddo story in Oklahoma, where a falling arrow takes the 
place of the tree. 



THE GOOD HUNTER AND THE GREAT MEDICINE 

In the Journal of American Folk Lore, 1901, pp. 153-159, 
was an article of mine with the above title, part of which 
I now transcribe. The Canadian Onondagas probably have 
this, but I find it in several versions among those of New 
York, who have many medicine ceremonies and rules for 
its use. Capt. Samuel George was at one time appointed 
physician at Onondaga by our authorities, some thinking 
his remedies as good as ours. My two versions of the 
Good Hunter are from N. Y. Senecas and Tuscaroras. 

In the Jesuit Relation for 1636 is an account of the Huron 
feasts, and one of these lacks clearness. "The Ononhara is 
for the madmen. . . . They refer the origin to a certain 
interview of the wolves and the owl, where this nocturnal 
animal predicted to them the coming of Ontarraoura, that 
is, a beast which approaches the lion by the tail (retire au 
Lyon par la queue), which Ontarraoura revived, they say, 
a certain good hunter, a great friend of the wolves, in the 
midst of a good feast; whence they conclude that the feasts 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 31 

are capable of healing the sick, since they even give life to 
the dead." 

It v/as easy for me to see that this beast was the panther, 
an animal little known to the missionaries or Hurons, but 
which has been widely named the mountain lion. The Onon- 
dagas still call it Sken-tak-tes-go-nah, Long Tail. Its noc- 
turnal habits and even its cry, often mistaken for that of 
the panther, might have associated the owl with it in tales 
of the forest, but what was the story of the good hunter? 
In answering this question I have nothing very original to 
offer, but will transcribe two accounts very nearly as I 
find them. In neither of these does the panther or owl 
figure, but the death of the good hunter, the gathering of 
birds and beasts, his revival and the gift of the great 
medicine, are prominent features. In the lapse of two cen- 
turies and a half, and in its relation by another people it 
has slightly changed, but is probably essentially that of the 
ancient Hurons. 

The oldest version of this recorded is in Doty's History 
of Livingston County, New Young, as it was given long ago, 
by an old Seneca, to Mr. Horsford, their missionary. I 
quote this brief account in full. 

"In ancient times a v/ar broke out between two tribes. 
On the one side the forces were jointly led by a great 
warrior and a noted hunter. The latter had killed much 
game for the skins, the remains being left for beasts and 
birds of prey. The battle was going against his side, and 
he saw that, to save his own life, he must quit the field. 
As he turned, the body of a great tree lay across his path. 
He came up to it, when a heavy blow felled him. On re- 
covering he found, strangely enough, that he could as easily 
pass through as over the obstruction. Reaching home, his 
friends would not talk with him ; indeed they seemed quite 
unaware of his presence. It now occurred to him that he, 
too, had been killed, and was present in spirit only, human 
eyes not seeing him. He returned to the place of conflict, 
and there, sure enough, lay his mortal part quite dead, and 
its scalp gone. A pigeon hawk, flying by, recognized the 
disembodied hunter, and gratefully offered to restore his 
scalp; so, stretching away in its flight to the retiring vic- 
tors, he plucked it from the bloody pole. The other birds 



32 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

had, meantime, prepared a medicine which soon united the 
scalp to the head, when bears and wolves gathered around 
and joined in the dance. The hunter got well and lived 
many years, his experience strengthening their religious 
faith, and teaching them how to use the remedies so strange- 
ly acquired, which, to this day, are among the most effi- 
cacious known to the Indians." 

In 1881, Elias Johnson, a Tuscarora chief, published the 
"Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Six Nations," in 
which the story has an ampler form. Of this I will give 
a summary. The good hunter appears, as before, as one 
noted for kindness and generosity to all, even to beasts and 
birds. Though a hunter he was considered the protector of 
these. On one occasion he went out with a war party. 
The battle was furious, and in the most desperate struggle 
he was struck down, scalped and left for dead. 

A fox came along when the conflict was over, and recog- 
nized this friend of bird and beast lying lifeless on the 
field. Shocked by the sight he raised the death lament, 
and called all the beasts together. Their cries were heard 
in the forest; they came by hundreds to the spot and tried 
to revive their friend. Vain were all their efforts, and he 
remained lifeless. As they sat down on their haunches to 
hold a council, they raised their heads and a dolorous cry 
rent the air. Then the bear was asked to speak, as being 
the nearest relative and best friend of man. He appealed 
to each and all for medicine, but though each had his own, 
none did any good. Again they lifted up their heads and 
howled a mournful requiem, long continued and with many 
varied tones. 

This sad lament, wild as the Highland coronach, brought 
the oriole to the spot. He was told of their sad plight, and 
in turn went and called a council of the birds. There was 
a flapping of wings everywhere, and all came, from the 
eagle to the wren, in response to the call. With beak and 
claw they made every effort, but nothing came of it. The 
hunter was dead, stubbornly dead, and his scalp was gone. 
The eagle's head had become white in his long and wise life, 
and from his lofty eyrie he had looked down, and knew 
every force of nature and every event of life. This white- 
headed sage said that the dead would not revive unless the 
scalp was restored. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 33 

First of all the fox went to seek this. He visited every 
Tjird's nest and every hen-roost, but no scalp did he find. 
The pigeon hawk took up the search, but soon returned. 
She f:ew so swiftly that no one expected her to see much, 
for birds have characters as well as men. The white heron 
fiew more slowly, and said he would do better, but came to 
a field of luscious wild beans, vs^hich tempted him. He fed 
and slept, and fed again, while the council awaited his 
return. At last the crow took up the mission. The warrior 
who had the scalp knew of the council, but feared nothing 
when he saw the crow flying near, for he was accustomed 
to that. She saw the scalp stretched on its hoop, to dry 
in the smoke above his cabin. Her chance came and she 
carried it off. Great was the rejoicing at her successful 
return. At once they put the scalp on his head, but so dry 
and warped had it become that it would not fit. 

Here was a new trouble. All did their best but nothing 
availed. Then the great eagle said that on the high rocks 
where he lived far above all other birds, the mountain 
dew had collected on his back, and perhaps this might serve. 
He plucked one of his long feathers, dipped it in this dew, 
and applied it to the scalp. It worked finely and the scalp 
was moist again. The animals brought other things for 
the cure. The scalp was placed on the head, to which it 
closely adhered. The hunter revived and recovered his 
strength. They gave him the compound which had restored 
him, as the gift of the Great Spirit, and there was then 
a pattering of feet and a rustle of wings as the council 
dispersed. The good hunter returned to his lodge in peace. 
The Seneca chief, the late Edward Cornplanter, gave a fine 
version of this also. 



THE MEDICINE 



The medicine was always cherished, and was used in the 
same way as at Onondaga, where I had the local account. 
A wooden cup is taken to a running stream, and filled by 
dipping down the stream. When brought back to the house 
it is placed near the fire, with some native tobacco, (N. 
rustica). There are prayers while the tobacco is gradu- 
allv thrown on the fire. The smoke is grateful to the Great 



34 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Spirit, and with this American incense their prayers rise 
heavenward. The medicine man then places a piece of 
skin near the cup, and on this the medicine is laid. He 
takes up a little of the pulverized compound with a wooden 
spoon and dusts it on the water in three spots '.' in the 
form of a triangle. This is closely watched. If it spreads 
over the water and whirls about on the surface, the sick 
person will recover. If it sinks at once he will die and 
nothing can be done. In the one case the medicine is given : 
in the other all the water is thrown away. 

This is not the only medicine, and Mr. Johnson gave an- 
other story and use : One day a hunter heard the sweetest 
music in the woods, but thorough search did not reveal its 
source. Charmed by the sound he went again and again, 
but with no better success. Not a note was heard. At 
last the Great Spirit came to him in a dream and told 
him what to do. He was to purify himself before seeking 
it, and this he at once did. The forest path was taken, the 
charming strain fell upon his ear, and he listened atten- 
tively till he could sing every note himself. Then he drew 
nearer. A tall green plant stood before him, with long 
and tapering leaves. This he cut down, but it was im- 
mediately healed and became as before. He did this re- 
peatedly with the same results, and then knew it as medi- 
cine especially good for wounds. Rejoicing in his great 
discovery, he took part of the plant home, where it was 
dried and pulverized. Then he touched it to a bad wound 
which a man had received, and it was healed at once. Thus 
did the Great Spirit give this great medicine to men, and 
very grateful were they for it. 

This medicine is used very differently, and Mr. Johnson 
described the feast to which it specially belongs. Once in 
six months there is a great feast at the hunting season, and 
this comes in the spring and fall. On the night of the 
feast, as soon as it is dark, all concerned assemble in one 
room. Lights are extinguished, and even the coals are 
carefully covered. The medicine is placed near these and 
tobacco IS laid beside it. Then all begin to sing, proclaim- 
ing that the crows are coming to the feast, and the other 
birds and beasts whose brains formed part of the first great 
medicine, the one which originated when they revived the 
good hunter. At the end of the song their calls are imi- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 35 

tated. Thrice, during the night, prayers are offered, and 
during these tobacco is thrown on the smothered embers. 
In these it is asked that all may be protected from harm, 
and that this medicine may heal hurts of every kind. To 
preserve due solemnity and prevent interruption, the doors 
are locked vv^hen the ceremonies begin. None may enter 
or go out, or even fall asleep. Anything like this would 
spoil the medicine. 

The actual feast begins just before daybreak. The past 
observance being here described as in the present, the master 
of ceremonies first takes a deer's head and bites it, imi- 
tating the call of a crow. He then passes it to another, 
who bites it in turn and imitates some other beast or bird. 
Thus it goes around. When it begins to be light the master 
of ceremonies takes a duck's bill and dips it full of the 
medicine. Some of this he gives to each one present, who 
puts it into a piece of skin, wrapping it in several covers. 
This is kept for the next feast, six months later. The 
panther's skin was preferred for the first cover, when it 
could be had. 

Those who take active part in this feast are all medicine 
men, but chiefs may be present and those who have been 
cured by the medicine. While these things are going on 
inside the house, the young people are having a merry time 
outside, and the remnants of the feast are theirs when 
those inside are done. The tune heard at its discovery is 
sung when this medicine is used, both at the feast and at 
its administration. The ceremonies are thought to make it 
effective. Each medicine man has a large quantity, which 
he keeps in a bag. To this he sometimes adds pulverized 
corn roots or squash vines, if he fears its exhaustion. When 
it is given several assemble and sing. Both kinds were 
deemed very useful in healing wounds received in war. 
These were the great medicines ; others were less important. 

Mrs. Harriet M. Converse, who has been initiated in the 
Seneca Na-gu-gar-ha, gives a favorable account of this 
society, and says that devout Christian Senecas are among 
the active members. The Onondagas call a secret medicine 
lodge Ka-noo-tah, the one that makes the great medicine, 
but there are other names having some reference to these. 



36 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

FALSE FACES 

Though there have been medicine men of local reputa- 
tion among the Onondagas, the False Faces have taken 
their place here in ceremonies for the sick. The members 
wear large wooden masks, the faces grotesquely carved and 
painted, the eyes adorned with brass or tin, and with horse 
hair for long flowing locks. Doorkeepers wear corn-husk 
masks here, but in Canada these form a distinct society. 

In the N. Y. Regents' Report for 1850, Mr. Lewis H. 
Morgan gives an account of them. The actual False Faces 
were properly evil spirits with supernatural powers, and 
without bodies or limb — really the traditional Flying Heads. 
They frequented solitary places, starting from tree to tree, 
paralyzing men and bringing storm and pestilence. 

As a society they appear in all Iroquois villages, having 
secret initiations, ceremonies and dances. If one dreamed 
he was a False Face, he related his dream to a proper 
person, and as Iroquois dreams must be fulfilled, he gave 
a feast and was initiated. If he dreamed he ceased to be 
a member, he gave a feast and withdrew. The dream gov- 
erned throughout. 

When they appear in public as such, they all wear masks. 
All are males except one woman, who is Mistress of the 
Band. She is called Go-go-sa Ho-nun-na-tase-ta, or Keeper 
of the False Faces. She has charge of the regalia, and is 
the only organ of communication with the members, whose 
names are supposedly unknown. 

When one is to be healed a feast is prepared at the sick 
man's house, and the False Faces come in in Indian file, led 
by the woman. On the occasion described, each wore a 
mask, a tattered blanket, and carried a turtle-shell rattle. 
They stirred the ashes on the hearth, and sprinkled hot 
ashes on the patient until his head and hair were covered. 
All manipulated him in turn, and led him around with them 
in the False Face dance. This concluded the ceremony. 
The feast prepared was distributed to them, and carried 
home to be eaten. They never unmasked before others. 

I have met them on their tramp around the Onondaga 
reservation, at the great winter feast, to drive all witches 
and evil spirits away. They have good times, too. An 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 37 

Onondaga hunter, at Green Lake (State Park) west of 
Jamesville, once heard many voices, and wondered at this 
in a spot so wild. Creeping quietly to the edge of the cliff 
he looked down from the rocks to the lake below. The 
False Faces were coming up from the water, loaded with 
more fish then he had ever seen. They were very merry 
over their good luck, and were shouting "Hoh ! hoh-o-o-oh !" 
as they came along. But the old chief looked up and around, 
and said : "Some one is coming ; look out !" So they went 
directly to the precipice, and one by one they disappeared 
in the rocky wall. The man above heard their voices in 
the rocks far under him, as they sang "Hoh! hoh-o-o-oh!" 
till the sounds died away in fihe ground. All was quiet 
again. The Onondagas think there is an underground gal- 
lery thence to the reservation quarries. 

Among the Onondagas a small stone mask was a sign 
that a man belonged to the False Faces. I have seen very 
few. When a child is sick and they hold a feast for him, 
this makes him a member. Some one makes him a little 
wooden mask, which becomes his assistant against evil 
of any kind. This he keeps. It is called Ho-yah-dah-nuh-na, 
an assistant. Kah-je-sah, a name for a mat, is applied to 
the corn-husk masks, worn by doorkeepers at public feasts. 
These keep those in the council house from leaving, catch- 
ing and throwing them back if they try, but a little present 
makes the v/ay easy. 

A wooden mask must not be long left with the face up- 
ward, for it resents the attitude of death and should have 
frequent attention. I had a fine mask with a small bag 
of tobacco attached. This should be often changed. After 
some years I gave it to our Historical Association and I 
suppose the tobacco is still there. I had this from Mr. 
De Cost Smith of Skaneateles, who made a fine collection 
of wooden masks, and whose exhaustive article on "Witch- 
craft and Demonism of the Modern Iroquois" appeared in 
1888. (Jour, of Am.erican Folk Lore, '88, pp. 184-193.) 
He said, "During the 'New Year's Dances' there are three 
occasions on which the m.asks are used, or, in other words, 
three 'devil dances,' or dances in honor of the Hon-do-i. 
Two precede the 'burning of the white dog'." I omit these 
two, which were held in 1883 on January 14th and 15th. 



38 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Mr. Smith said, 'The dance of Thursday, January 26th, 
was more interesting, but was, properly speaking, a 'medi- 
cine dance,' in which the Hon-do-i were not asked to help 
the people against the witches, but were expected, in view 
of the honor shown them, to withdraw the sickness for 
which they themselves were responsible." I may say that 
Mr. Smith's personal observations were confined to the 
Onondagas, with whom he was a favorite. I quote his ac- 
count in full, as the best of which I know. 

"During the early part of the day the dancers went from 
house to house, dancing for the cure of those who could not 
leave home. In the afternoon, toward three o'clock, the 
people gathered in the council house to await the coming of 
the Hon-do-i. Two old women were cooking a kettle of 
dried corn, beans, and slices of pork over the fire at the 
women's end of the room, for on this, as on other occasions, 
one end is occupied by the men and the other by the women. 
Food for feasts is always prepared at the women's end 
of the house, excepting bread and cakes, which are fur- 
nished from the private houses. During this time the devils 
v.-ould appear occasionally before the door, the people with- 
in and v/ithout giving way immediately for them, and the 
'head devil' would push open the door suddenly and enter 
with a bound, to see if the feast were ready. When this 
had happened several times the food was declared cooked, 
and the whole band of dancers entered and took seats near 
the middle of the room. 

"The head chief then stood up and addressed the dancers 
as A-gwe-ge, 'All.' Then proceeding to the stove, he threw 
tobacco into the fire, and lifting off the pot full of food 
gave it to the 'head devil,' who took it and walked out, fol- 
lowed by the others. While they were gone a number of 
benches were arranged in a semi-circle in front of the 
women's stove. On this semi-circle of benches those who 
were suffering from disease or sickness nov/ seated them- 
selves to the number of thirty or forty. When the devils 
had eaten the food they returned to the council house, and 
all save one (the 'head devil,' whose duty it was to guard 
the door) went to the stove, and with a great deal of grunt- 
ing and groaning, 'Han-han, han-han,' ran their hands 
through the ashes on the hearth, and then started in single 
file around the half -circle of benches, each Hat-do-i in turn 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION SO 

rubbing ashes upon the head of each of the sick persons. 
The action consists in rubbing the hands quickly on the 
head, and then blowing upon it two or three times. 

"After this the devils sat down, and a man with a turtle 
shell rattle took a seat on a separate bench, facing the in- 
valids, where he sang an accompaniment, and with the 
rattle beat time for the following dance. A woman some- 
what beyond middle age, apparently appointed for that pur- 
pose, led out to the nearer end of the seats one of the sick 
v/omen, while at the same time a man led forth one of 
the devils to dance with the patient. The pair, having danced 
facing each other to the other end of the row of benches, 
resumed their seats, and another couple took their place, 
a sick woman being brought forth, as before, by the old 
woman, and a devil by the man already mentioned. These 
two also danced across the floor, and upon taking their 
seats v/ere followed by others, until each sick woman had 
danced with one of the devils. Then all in the council 
house danced, in an irregular crowd, around the inside 
of the building. 

"During these ceremonies the head demon had stood with 
his back against the door to prevent persons going out, and 
I was afterward told that if any one present refused to 
take part in the final, general dance, the Hon-do-i 'would 
throw him down, put ashes on him,' and inflict various in- 
dignities upon him. The medicine dancing was now over, 
and the crowd was allov/ed to go and come as it chose. 
The group of sick persons that had occupied the benches 
consisted of men and women, old and young, but only the 
women danced, as I have described, each with a separate 
Hat-do-i/' 

The Jesuits, in their missions to the Onondagas, never 
saw these masks, but one, who was with De Nonville's ex- 
pedition against the Senecas, in 1687, saw one in a cabin 
there. Bartram found them at Onondaga in 1743. Nowhere 
did they find the burning of the white dog accompanying 
the dream feast of the New Year. Both features are very 
modern. 

If one connects the masks with the Flying Heads, as de- 
picted by David Cusick, he will get a hint of their first 
meaning. About 1400 years before Columbus— no matter 



40 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

about the time — "The Holder of the Heavens was absent 
from the country, which was destitute of the visits of the 
Governor of the Universe. The reason produced the oc- 
casion that they were invaded by the monsters called Ko- 
nea-rau-neh-neh, i. e., Flying Heads, which devoured several 
people of the country. The Flying Heads made invasions 
in the night; but the people v/ere attentive to escape by 
leaving their huts and concealing themselves in other huts 
prepared for that purpose. An instance: — there was an 
old woman which resided at Onondaga ; she was left alone 
in the hut at evening; while others deserted. She was 
setting near the fire parching some acorns, when the mons- 
trous Head made its appearance at the door ; while viewing 
the woman it was amazed that she eat the coals of fire, by 
which the monsters were put to flight, and ever since the 
heads disappeared and were supposed concealed in the 
earth." 



STONISH GIANTS 



I have alluded to the Ot-ne-yar-heh or Stonish Giants, 
who overran the country, fought a great battle, and held 
the people in subjection for a long time. 'The Stonish 
Giants were so ravenous that they devoured the people 
of almost every town in the country." At the Mississippi 
they had separated from all others and gone to the north- 
west. "The family was left to seek its habitation, and the 
rules of humanity v,-ere forgotten, and afterwards eat raw 
fiesh of the animals. At length they practiced rolling 
themselves on the sand, by this means their bodies were 
covered with hard skin; these people became giants and 
v/ere dreadful invaders of the country.'' 

So said David Cusick. According to him the Holder of 
the Heavens led them into a deep ravine near Onondaga, 
and rolled great stones on them in the night. But one 
escaped, and since then "the Stonish Giants left the country 
and seeks an asylum in the regions of the north." 

The Onondagas have a local but different story. They 
say that a Stcne Giant lived near Cardiff, a little 'south of 
their reservation, which is by no means their early home. 
He was once like other men, but v;as a great eater, be- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 41 

came a cannibal, and increased in size. His skin became 
hard and changed into scales, which alone would turn an 
arrow. Every day he came through the valley, caught and 
devoured an Onondaga, a fearful toll. The people were 
dismayed but formed a plan. They made a road in the 
marsh with a covered pitfall, decoyed the giant through 
the path and down he went and was killed. Of course when 
the Cardiff Giant was "found" it did not astonish the 
Onondagas that he was of stone. 

The Onondagas have also a story of a Stone Giant's race 
with a man near Jamesville. He ran the man into the 
hollow at Green Pond, west of that village, where the rocks 
rise 200 feet above the water on three sides. On the south 
side the precipice can be ascended by a natural stairway 
at one spot, and the man was far enough ahead to reach 
the top before the other. He lay down and looked from the 
rocks to see what the other would do. The latter came 
and looked around. Not seeing the man he took out of his 
pouch what seemed a finger, but was really a pointer of 
bone. By means of this he could find any object he wished, 
and so it was always useful in hunting. As he climbed the 
rocks the man reached down and took away the pointer 
before the other saw him. The giant begged him to re- 
store it. If he would do this he was promised good luck 
and long life for himself and friends. Though he begged 
so piteously the man ran home with it to show his friends, 
leaving him there helpless, unable to find his way. His 
friends interceded, telling him to accept the giant's good 
offer and not incur his enmity. So they went back and 
found him still at the lake. He received his pointer, promis- 
ing to eat men no more, and good luck followed the man. 
This is one of the oldest Stone Giant stories, closely re- 
sembling one told by David Cusick. 



INDIAN FAIRIES 



The fairies, or little people, did not often appear to the 
Indians, but did many things for them. In the ravine, 
west of Onondaga Valley, is an exposed and precipitous 
bank of boulder clay beside the road, with large stones in 
places. Thomas IVebster said the little people had worn 



42 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

this smooth in sliding down hill, and that they liked the 
bounce the big stones gave them in doing this. Gis-twe-ah- 
na, Little men, is a name for the Valley. 

David Boyle gives a Canadian account of the pigmies and 
the pigmy dance. "A race of small people is believed to 
inhabit caves in rocky places. These people did not ap- 
pear till long after the creation of the Indians, and are quite 
different from them in disposition, as well as in size and 
appearance. Scarcely more than three feet high and of 
a pale yellow color, they dressed "all over," even in summer 
time, differing in this respect from the Indian. 

''They are not credited with any mischievous tendencies, 
but were rather disposed to assist the hunter in pursuit of 
his game. To secure the good offices of the pigmies, how- 
ever, it was, as a matter of course, necessary that a feast 
should be given in their honor. In the old days the cus- 
tom was to kill the first deer for this purpose, and as the 
pigmies were particularly fond of corn soup, this dish 
formed a prominent feature of the feast. Now-a-days a 
pig is sometimes killed as a substitute for the deer. 

"Thirty-six songs are peculiar to this ceremony, during 
the first part of which, these, with four exceptions, are sung 
in accompaniment to the women's dance, in perfect dark- 
ness. Wherever a pigmy feast is given, all these songs must 
be sung, one-half of them by the men and one-half by 
the women. No rattle is employed in these dances, but a 
drum in the hands of a man is constantly in use. After 
the men have sung their sixteen songs, the women do their 
half of the singing, continuing to dance at the same time. 

"At the conclusion of this second part the room is lighted 
and the remaining four songs are sung by the women, who 
dance by moving in a circle in the usual way, while the 
dance engaged in when the room was dark consisted of a 
slight alternate shuffle forv/ards and backwards, the dan- 
cers remaining in one place. The pigmy dance requires 
about an hour and a half, and is usually held in the house of 
the man or woman who gives the feast. 

"My informant gave it as his opinion that the portion 
of the ceremony performed in darkness referred to the 
doubt and difficulty connected v/ith an unsuccessful hunt. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 48 

while the lighting up symbolized the capture of game. In 
accordance with the Mohawk myth, as held by some, the 
pigmies are fond of playing pranks by throwing stones, 
hence the name — Yagodinenyoyaks." — Stone Throwers. 

My esteemed friend, the late Rev. Thos. La Fort, Onon- 
daga Wesleyan minister, told the following in 1899: "By 
our forefathers it has been related that long, long ago, 
there lived between Mohawk and Palatine Bridge, very 
little folks. They lived by themselves and were called 
'stone-throwers.' I, Thomas La Fort, saw such a one about 
thirty years ago, when I was traveling on the road to 
Albany; he sat on top of a hill and looked down on the 
road. These little men could appear and disappear when- 
ever they wished. 

"About 200 years ago there was a poor man, running 
around hunting in the woods, but unable to kill a deer. 
So he was feeling very badly and very hungry, when sud- 
denly he saw a very little old woman standing before him, 
who said she had been waiting for him and could make him 
very happy. She offered him three different things: (1) 
He could find precious gold; (2) He could find bright silver; 
(3) He could kill as many deer as he wished, having the 
power to call the animals to him. Then she told him he 
would enjoy the venison which he would find on the shelves 
of his wigwam. It happened as the little woman had said, 
he could shoot the deer without trouble, for they came to 
him when he called. 

"When I was a boy my grandmother told me that she 
had a grandchild who once was walking with her great 
grandmother on a road, the grandchild going ahead. Sud- 
denly there appeared a strange-looking little woman, who 
spoke to her and said, 'You are feeling unhappy because 
you cannot walk as steadily as in your younger days, and 
yet you may become young again, providing you will do as 
I tell you. Tell your grandchild to walk straight ahead, 
and not to look back until I give her permission.' The 
grandmother did as she was bidden, and the little woman 
took a bone comb out of her pocket and said, 'Comb your 
hair with this as far as your hands can extend.' The old 
vv'onian noticed that her hair was lengthening as far as she 
could reach, at the same time her skin changed color rapidly, 



44 , IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

when suddenly the grandchild looked back, and her grand- 
mother, saying, 'My dear child you have destroyed me,' fell 
down dead." 

At a later day, not long before his death, Mr. La Fort 
gave me the following tale : 

"While all the Onondagas were once off sugar-making, 
a young man remained at home alone because he was ill. 
While lying on his couch he felt fingers stroking his fore- 
head. Then they patted his shoulders, but no one was seen. 
Then they came down his arm, and a small arm appeared, 
but no body. He seized the arm with all his might, but 
could not hold it, and received a blow upon his head. Then 
all was still. 

"His mother came home and he told her all this. '0, 
my son,' said she, 'You have done very wrong. You have 
driven away your best friend, but I will try to make amends. 
To-night I will take a good deer's hide and cut it in pieces 
for twelve pairs of moccasins. This I will put in a con- 
venient place, and lay with it beads, thread and colored 
moose hair.' This she did. At midnight the young man 
heard a noise and felt the fingers, as before, but kept 
still. Then the fingers went away and he heard a sound 
where the deer-skin lay. In the morning all was gone. 
The next night came and nothing was heard, but in the 
morning there stood a pair of moccasins, beautiful beyond 
anything Onondaga had ever seen. The sick youth was 
soon well." 

Such things. La Fort said, used to be frequent in the 
old times, the little men being often seen, helping men, 
but since Christianity had prevailed they had disappeared. 
He asked what I thought of this. I do not recall the answer. 

The Onondagas call thesm Che-kah-eh-hen-wah, ' Small 
People or Little Men. The Mohawks, Yah-ko-nen-us-yoks, 
or Stone Thowers. The Tuscaroras term them Ehn-kwa-si- 
yea, No Men at all. 

I add to the above Mrs. H. Maxwell Converse's account, 
prefaced by Arthur C. Parker's notes. He said: "The 
Stone Throwers are a band of elves who are fond of playing 
harmless pranks. Should one offend them, however, the 
prank may cease to be harmless. An Indian who discovers 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 45 

that he has been punished by them at once holds a proper 
ceremonj^ for their propitiation. Mr. M. R. Harrington, 
^vho questioned the Oneidas regarding their behef in the 
Jo-ga-oh, was told that when a good round stone was needed 
for a hammer or corn crusher, that an Indian would go 
down to a creek and place an offering of tobacco beneath 
a flat stone, and, returning the next day, find within the 
radius of a man's length a stone just suitable for his pur- 
pose. 

"The ceremonies of the Pygmy Society are called at cer- 
tain times to propitiate the elves and sprites, who often 
wish to be assured of man's gratitude for their favors. The 
writer has translated the entire ritual, and recorded the 
songs and chants on the phonograph. The Seneca name for 
the society is Yot-don-dak-goh. 

"The editor has questioned a number of Iroquois children 
regarding the Jo-ga-oh, and has been told that these little 
folk have sometimes been seen running through the woods. 
They generally are dressed in all the traditional parapher- 
nalia of the Indian, but sometimes are entirely naked. The 
Seneca children who described them, said that they were 
about a foot high and ran very fast. With adults they are 
more often heard than seen, and are known by their drum- 
ming on the wet drum. The listening initiate who hears 
the tap of the ringing water tomtom, knows instantly that 
the elves are calling a council, and summons his society 
to meet and make the proper offerings to these elves who 
run in the darkness and who wander upon the mountains. 

"The elves are naturally unsuccessful hunters. This is 
not because they lack skill, but because the animals have 
learned to detect their peculiar scent. Because of this the 
members of the Pygmy Society save the parings and scrap- 
ings from their finger rails, and tie them in little bags to 
throw among the rocks for the elves. They are believed to 
saturate them in water and bathe in it. The animals think 
that human hunters seek them and are not afraid." 

Mrs. Converse's account follows. Her strong poetic taste 
is shown in all her stories, and I give this one literally to 
show her personality. 



4Q IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"NEH JO-GA-OH, THE MYTH DWARF PEOPLE 
"GA-HON-GA, THE STONE THROWERS 

"Among the fable folk of the Iroquois, the Jo-ga-oh, or 
invisible little people are beings empowered to serve nature 
with the same authority as the greater spirits. These little 
people are divided into three tribes, the Ga-hon-ga of the 
rocks and rivers, the Gan-da-yah of the fruits and grains, 
and the Oh-dan-was of the under earth shadows. 

'The Ga-hon-ga, guardians of the streams, dwell in rock 
caves beside the waters, and though dwarf in being are 
gigantic in strength. They can uproot the largest tree by 
a twist of the hand, and hurl massive rocks into the rivers, 
to lift the waters when floods threaten. They have fre- 
quently visited Indians in awake dreams, and led them to 
their dwelling places, and then challenged them to feats of 
strength, such as playing ball with the rocks, often hurl- 
ing them high out of sight in the air. Because of this 
fondness the Indians often called them 'Stone Throwers.' 

"When a drought parches the land, the Indian, wise in 
mystery ways, goes far into the forests, and searches along 
the mountain streams, until he finds the signs of the Ga- 
hon-ga. These are little cup-shaped hollows in the soft 
earth that edges the streams, and are the promise of rain. 
The Indian carefully scoops up these hollows in the mud, 
and dries them on a fragment of bark in the sun. They 
are the 'dew cup charms' that, placed in a lodge, attract 
the Gan-da-yah of the fruits and grains, who begin imme- 
diately their activity in the ground of the garden. 

"In their province of watchfulness they instruct the fish, 
directing their movements, and giving them shelter in their 
deep water caves, if pursued by merciless fishermen, or 
confused in the whirl of the flood. They know the twists of 
every trap, and will loosen them to release the captive 
fish, when they deem it wise to do so. They can command 
a fruitful or barren season, and, unless propitiated, fre- 
quently punish negligence with famine. 

"By a legend of these Gahonga, at one time an abandoned 
orphan boy was playing by the side of a river, where one 
of these little people was paddling his canoe. The boy 
was invited to take a ride, but the boat was so small that 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 47 

he at first refused. By continual urging, however, the 
little rock thrower induced the boy to venture in, when, 
with a single stroke of the paddle he swept the canoe high 
from the bosom of the river, up into the air and into the 
side of a cliff that towered from the mouth of the river. 
They had entered a cave filled with the old and the young 
of the little folk, who began their Joy dance in honor of 
their visitor, the orphan boy. 

"Dwelling with these people, the boy was taught their 
wondrous ways, their mysticism, exorcisms and dances, all 
so efficacious in coaxing the fruits to come forth to the sun. 
In the dark recesses of the high cliif cave he learned many 
strange things, as he saw the little people at work, and so 
marvelous was it all that his stay seemed but a few days. 
Then suddenly they commanded him to return to his people. 
He Vs^as given a portion of each bird and animal as a charm, 
and told how to employ each with effect. The corn and the 
beans would obey his words, and the berries and fruits 
would ripen at his bidding, the harvests v/ould be full when 
he sang, and the flowers would unfurl as he walked through 
the lands. Unknowing, as they were instructing him, he 
was being let down in the valley from which he had come. 
The Ga-hon-ga had vanished, and going among the people 
he found himself a man; his captivity had been one of 40 
years, and yet it seemed but a visit of so. many days. He 
was a man of gigantic proportions, and inspired awe when 
he taught to the wise the laws and the charms, the dances 
and songs of the Ga-hon-ga. 

"Thus has the story of the little rock people been trans- 
mitted from generation to generation for numberless years. 
The fisherman and the hunter know it; the grandmothers 
tell it to their children's children, and the children tell it 
to their dolls; the medicine men chant its songs, and in 
their incantations for the harvests they dance for the little 
folk, and the dancers in darkness chant the story in song." 



"NEH OH-DO-WAS, THE UNDEREARTH MYTHS 

"The Little Folk of the Darkness, the underearth dwel- 
lers, are most wise and mysterious. Seldom do the eyes 
of men penetrate the gloom to recognize them. These Oh- 



48 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

do-v/as are the wondrous band of elf folk that hold juris- 
diction over the sunless domain beneath the earth, where 
dwell the creatures of the darkness, and the prisoners that 
have offended the regions of light. 

"In the dim world where the Oh-do-was live are deep 
forests and broad plains, where roam the animals whose 
proper abode is there, and though all that live there wish 
to escape, yet both good and bad, native and captive, are 
bidden to be content and dwell where fate has placed them. 
Among the mysterious underearth denizens are the white 
buffaloes, who are tempted again and again to gain the 
earth's surface, but the paths to the light are guarded, and 
the white buffalo must not climb to the sunlight, to gallop 
with his brown brothers over the plains. Sometimes they 
try to rush up and out, and then the Oh-do-was rally their 
hunters, and thin out the unruly herds with their arrows. 
'Tis then that a messenger is sent above to tell the sunlight 
elves that the, chase is on, and the earth elves hang a red 
cloud high in the heavens, as a sign of the hunt. Ever 
alert for signals the Indian reads the symbol of the red 
cloud, and rejoices that the Little People are watchful and 
brave. 

''Always intent on flight, the venomous reptiles and crea- 
tures of death slink in the deep shadows of the dim under- 
place, captives of the watchful Oh-do-was. Though they 
are sm.all, it is not often that they fail to fight back the 
powerful monsters that rush to the door to the light world, 
but sometimes one escapes and, whizzing out in the dark- 
ness of earth's night, spreads his poisonous breath over the 
forests, and creates the pestilence that sweeps all before it. 
Then the monsters, maddened by jealousy, search out the 
places where the springs spout to the surface, and poison 
the waters, and, where a deep grown root has pushed its 
way through the underearth in search of water, they tear 
it with their fangs, and the earth tree above wilts and 
dies. But such things are rare, for the Oh-do-was are 
vigilant, and faithful and strong, and will not willingly let 
death escape to their elves and their human friends. 

"At certain times they visit their relatives above. At 
night they hold festivals in the forests, and the circle 
beneath many a deep wood tree, where the grass refuses 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 49 

to grow, is the ring where the dances are held. Inhabiting 
the darkness, the light of the sun would blind them, but 
they do not fear the moon's soft rays. The creatures 
of the night, the bats and birds, and the prowlers of the 
darkness, know the Oh-do-was and are wary, for some- 
times offensive intruding animals are captured, and carried 
far beneath the fields and forests, nor may they expect to 
be ransomed by their elf guardians of the light, when they 
visit the regions below, for no Jo-ga-oh ever questions the 
act of another. 

"Thus banded, the Jo-ga-oh of the earth, above and below, 
guard, guide and advise all living nature, and protect the 
Indians from unseen foes. The Indian, grateful for this 
unselfish service, reveres the Little Folk, and sings their 
"oraises in ceremonies and dedicates dances to them. 



/NEli GAN-DA-YAH OF THE FRUITS AND GRAINS 

"In the divisions of the Jo-ga-oh the Gan-da-yah are the 
most beloved by the Indians. The office of these elves is 
to protect and advise the fruits and grains. They are the 
little people of the sunshine, who bring joy and brightness 
to the Indian's heart. 

"In the springtime these 'Little People' hide in dark, shel- 
tered places, and whisper to the earth as they listen to the 
complaints of the growing seeds. When the sun bestows its 
full summer glow they wander over the fields, tinting the 
grains and ripening the fruits, and bidding all growing 
things to look to the sun. Their labor commences with the 
strawberry plant, whose fruit is a special gift to man- 
kind. When the earth softens from the frost, the 'Little 
People' loosen the earth around each strawberry root, that 
its shoots mdy better push through to the light. They 
shape its leaves to the sun, turning the blossoms upward 
to its touches and guiding the runners to new growing 
places. Assisting the timid fruit buds at nightfall, they 
direct them from the west sky, where they had followed the 
sun, back to the east and the morning's glow. When the 
full fruit first blushes on the vine, these guardian elves 
protect it from the ravages of evil insects and the mildew 
of the dam.p. 



50 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"The ripening of the strawberry is the signal for a thanks- 
giving by the entire people. The fruit, the first grown of 
the year, is greeted with songs of joy and gratitude. The 
Priestesses (Ho-non-di-ont) hold meetings of praise in 
the darkness of the night. In their Dark dances the berry 
had its own Joy dance, and there is an especial dance and 
song for the Jo-ya-oh, by whose fostering care the fruit 
has come to perfection. The strawberry wine is made on 
these occasions and distributed among the people, a separate 
portion being reserved for the singers who officiate at the 
Berry dance. 

"There is an ancient folk tale that when the fruits were 
first coming to earth, an evil spirit stole the strawberry 
plant, hiding it under the ground for centuries, until it 
was finally released by a spy sunbeam, who carried it back 
to the sunny fields of earth, where it has lived and thrived 
ever since, but fearing another captivity, the 'Little People' 
maintain special guard over their favorite fruit. 

"These elf folk are ever vigilant in the fields during the 
season of ripening, and vigorous are their wars with the 
blights and diseases that threaten to infect and destroy 
the corn and the beans. The universal friends of the red 
man, they assume various forms for protection and guid- 
ance, frequently visiting the lodges of the Indian in the 
guise of birds. If they come as a robin they carry good 
tidings; if as an owl, watchful and wise, their mission is 
one of warning, an enemy is coming who will deceive ; if 
as a bat, that winged animal, the symbol of the union of 
light and darkness, it denotes some life and death struggle 
close at hand. The most minute harmless insect or worm 
may be the bearer of important 'talk' from the 'Little 
People,' and is not destroyed, for the 'trail is broad enough 
for all.' 

"According to a law enacted by these guardian elves, a 
true Indian should not relate the myth tales of his people 
during the summer. No one could tell, they thought, when 
some bug or bird might be listening and report the offence 
to the elves, who, in turn, would send a watcher to en- 
force silence on the part of the breaker of the law. They 
dread that some creature of animate nature may over- 
hear these tales, and entranced by them, forget to go back 



ONCNDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 51 

to winter homes when the snow falls. Even the vine that 
crept over the lodge door, may listen so eagerly that it 
will forget to let down its sap before the frost comes, and 
die. The bird singing on the tree's limb, which leafs above 
the door, may, in his wonder and bewilderment, forget the 
sun way to the south, and fall a victim to the first snow. 
The ground animals may stop to listen, with their heads 
half out of their burrovv^s, and, marveling over the story, 
tarry till the winter seals them there, to perish in the ice 
breath of the north blast. Knowing these things, the Indian 
reserves his m>i;h tales until the winter time comes and 
his fireplace glows. 

"When the leaves have strewn the barren earth, and the 
snow has covered the leaves and built its mounds high in 
the lowlands, the 'Little People' are safe folded in their 
shadow slumbers, and the earth knows them no more until 
the melting snows, and the swollen streams and the leafing 
trees summon them to the season of springtime." 

The three sections of the above interesting paper seem 
to have been written at different times, and united with- 
out revision. 

Some of the animal stories are close reproductions of 
those of the white man, and some of the earlier ones are 
somewhat affected by changed conditions. The following, 
which I had from Albert Cusick, closely adheres to the 
primitive type. The first part he wrote himself, and the 
latter I took down from his dictation. 



THE LOST BOY 



"A long time ago, among the Onondaga Indians, were 
several families who went off to camp near the wildwood 
streams, where fish, deer, otter, beaver and other like game 
could be caught for winter use. These Onondagas, or 
People of the Hill, journeyed several days, and finally came 
to the hunting grounds. The hunting ground where they 
stopped was a very beautiful place, with its little hills and 
the river with high banks. Not far from their camp was 
a beautiful lake, with high, rocky banks, and with little 
islands full of cedar trees. When they came there it was 
in the moon or month of Chut-ho-wa-ah, or October. Some 



62 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

of these Indians made their camps near the river, and 
some near the lake. As it was quite early in the season 
for hunting, some of the Indians amused themselves by- 
making birch bark canoes. With these they could go up 
and down the river and on the lakes, fishing and trapping, 
or making dead falls for other small game. 

"In the party were five little boys who had their ov/n 
bows and arrows, and would go hunting, imitating their 
fathers and uncles. Among them was one much smaller 
than the rest, who was greatly teased by the other and 
older boys. Sometimes they would run away from him 
and hide themselves in the woods, leaving him crying; 
then they would come back and show themselves, and have 
a great laugh over the little boy's distress. Sometimes 
they would run for the camp, and would tell him that a 
bear or a wolf was chasing them, leaving the little boy 
far behind, crying with all his might. Many a time he 
sought his father's camp all alone, when the other boys 
would leave him and hide themselves in the woods. 

"One day these little Indians found a great hollow log, 
lying on the ground. One of them said, "May be there 
is a Ta-hone-tah-na-ken (rabbit) or a Hi-sen (red squirrel) 
in this hollow log. Let us shoot into it, and see if there 
is any Ta-hone-tah-na-ken in it.' All agreed to this, and 
they began to take the little boy's arrows from him, and 
shoot them into the hole ; then the larger boys said to him, 
'Now go into the hollow log and get your arrows.' The 
little boy said, 'No; I am afraid something might catch 
me.' Then he began to cry, and was not at all willing 
to go into the log. The others coaxed him to do so, and 
one said he would get his uncle to make him a new bow 
and arrows if he would go into the log and get the arrows 
they had shot there. At last this tempted the little boy. 
He stopped crying, got down on his hands and knees, and 
crawled into the log. When he had gone in a little way 
he found one of his arrows, and handed it out. This gave 
him courage to go in a little farther. When he had ad- 
vanced some distance in the log, one of the larger boys 
said, "Let's stop up the log and trap that boy in it, so 
that he can't get out." This was soon agreed to and the 
boys began to fetch old rotten wood and old limbs, stop- 
ping up the hollow log and trapping the little boy in it. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 53 

When this mischief was done the four boys ran to their 
camp, saying not a word about the little boy who was 
trapped in the log. 

"It was two days before the mother and father began 
to notice the absence of their boy, for they thought he must 
have stayed over night with one of the others, as very 
often he had done ; but the second day a search was begun, 
and the other four boys were asked whereabouts they had 
left him. They all said that they did not know, and that 
the last time they were out the little boy did not go with 
them. Then the entire camp turned out to join in the 
search, as now they knew that the boy must be lost. After 
they had hunted a long time he could not be found, and they 
ceased to look for him. They thought he must have been 
killed and eaten by a wolf or bear. 

"When he was first shut up in the log the little boy tried 
to get out, but could not do it, as the chunks of rotten 
wood v/ere too large for him to move. He could not kick 
or push thern out. Then he cried for help, but no one came. 
There he v/as for three days and three nights, crying 
loudly for help, and now and then falling asleep. But on 
the fourth night, while he was in the hollow log, he thought 
he heard some one coming. He listened, and was sure he 
heard the crying of a very old woman, and the noise of the 
tramping of feet. The crying and the tramping came 
nearer to the log where he was. At last the crying came 
very close to him, and then he heard a noise as though 
some one sat down on the log. Now he heard the old 
woman cry in earnest, and now and then she would say: 
'Oh, how tired I am! how tired I am! and yet I may have 
come too late, for I do not hear my grandchild cry. He 
may be dead ! he may be dead !' Then the old woman would 
cry in earnest again. 

"At last he heard a rap on the log and his own name 
called: *Ha-yah-noo! Ha-yah-noo! are you still alive?' 
Ha-yah-noo, or Footprints under the Water— for this was 
the little boy's name — ansv/ered the old w^oman, and said 
that he still lived. The old wcm.an said, '0, how glad I am 
to find my grandchild still alive !' Then she asked Ha-yah- 
noo if he could not get out; but he said he could not, lor 
he had already tried. Then said the old woman, 'I will 



54 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

try to get you out of this log.' He heard her pull at the 
chunks of old wood; but at last she said she could not get 
him out, as she v/as too old and tired. She had heard 
him crying three days before, and had journeyed three 
days and nights to come and help her grandchild out of his 
trouble. Now this old woman was an 0-ne-ha-tah, or Por- 
cupine. She lived in an old hemlock tree, near the spot 
where the boy was shut up in the log. 

"When Grandmother 0-ne-ha-tah had said that she had 
to journey three days and nights, and now she could not 
help Ha-yah-noo out of the log, she was very sorry and 
began to cry again. Finally she said she had three children 
who were very strong, and that she would get them to help 
her; so she went after them. It was almost daylight when 
they came, and then Ha-yah-noo heard them pull out the 
chunks which stopped up the log. At last Grandmother 
0-ne-ha-tah said to him, 'Come out now. My children have 
got the chunks out of the log. You can come out.' 

"When Ha-yah-noo came out he saw four wild animals 
around him. There was Grandmother 0-ne-ha-tah and her 
three children, as she called them. They were Oo-kwa-e, 
the Bear ; Sken-no-doh, the Deer, and Tah-you-ne, the Wolf. 
'Now,' said 0-ne-ha-tah, 'I want one of you to take care of 
this boy, and love him as your own child. You all know 
that now I am very, very old. If I were younger I would 
take care of him myself.' 

"Tah-you-ne, the Wolf, was the first one to speak, say- 
ing she could take care of the boy, as she lived on the same 
meat on which he fed. 'No,' said 0-ne-ha-tah, 'you are 
too greedy. You would eat up the boy as soon as he is 
left with you alone.' The Wolf was very angry. She 
showed her teeth and snapped them at the boy, who was 
much afraid and wanted no such mother. 

The next that spoke was Sken-no-doh, the Deer. She said 
that she and her husband would take care of the boy, as 
they lived on corn and other things which they knew the 
boy liked. Her husband would carry him on his back wher- 
ever they went. But Grandmother 0-ne-ha-tah said, 'No; 
you can't take care of the boy, for you are always travel- 
ing, and never stay in one place. The boy cannot do the 
traveling that you do, for you run very fast and make 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 55 

very long journeys. The boy cannot stand it and you have 
no home for him for the winter. Boys like this have homes.' 
Then the Deer ran away, very happy, as though she were 
glad to be rid of the boy. 

"Then Oo-kwa-e, the Bear, said she knew she could take 
care of him, as she lived in a large stone house and had 
plenty to eat. She lived on meats and fishes, and all kinds 
of nuts and berries, and even wild honey, all of which the 
boy would like. She had a good warm bed for him to sleep 
on through the winter, and she was a loving mother to her 
children. She would rather die than see them abused. Then 
0-ne-ha-tah, or Porcupine (meaning 'Full of quills), said: 
'You are just the one to take care of this boy. Take him 
and carry him home.' So the Bear, like a loving mother, 
took the boy and brought him to her home. When they 
got there, Oo-kwa-e said to her two children, Oo-tutch-ha 
or Young Bears, 'Don't play with him roughly, and he will 
be your kind little brother.' Then she gave him berries 
to eat, and they were all happy. 

"The stone house was a cave in the rocks, but to the 
boy it seemed to have rooms, like any other house, and 
the little bears seemed like human children. They did not 
tease him, but lived in the most friendly way, and the old 
Oo-kwa-e was a very kind mother to the boy. It was now 
quite late in the fall, and the days were short and dark. 
Then Mother Oo-kwa-e said, 'It is late and dark now. We 
had better go to bed.' The nights were cold, but the bed 
was warm, and they slept till the spring. 

"One evening it thundered; for the bears do not wake up 
till the thunder is heard. It made such a noise that they 
thought the walls were coming down. Then the old Oo- 
kwa-e said, 'Why! its getting light. We had better get 
up.' So they lived happily together for a very long time. 
She went out in the woods, going to and fro for food, and 
the children amused themselves at home. 

"Every now and then, through the summer, the Bear 
people v/ould come in and say, 'In such a place are many 
berries.' These would be strawberries, raspberries or 
others, according to the season. Later they told of chest- 
nuts and other nuts of which they were fond. Then they 
would say, 'Let us go and gather them.' So the Mother 



56 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Bear and Little Bears went, taking the little boy along, 
for they always expected a good time. The other bears 
knev/ nothing about the boy. When they came near the 
spot and he was seen, these would be frightened and say, 
'There is a human being ! Let us run ! let us run !' So they 
would scamper off as fast as bears can, leaving their heaps 
of nuts or berries behind them. Then the old Oo-kwa-e 
would gather these up, she and her children, and take them 
home, which was a very easy way of getting plenty of 
food. Thus the boy became very useful to Mother Bear. 

"The boy lived with them thus for about three years, 
and the same things happened every year. In the third 
year Mother Bear said, 'Some one is coming to kill us.' 
Then all looked out and saw a man coming through the 
woods, with his bow and arrows in his hand, and his dog 
running all around, looking for game. Then Mother Bear 
said, 'I must see what I can do.' So she took a forked 
stick, and pointed the open fork toward the man. It 
seemed to come near him, and appeared to him like a line 
of thick brush that he did not wish to break through. So 
he turned aside and went another way, and they were safe 
that time. 

Another day she again said, 'Some one is coming to- 
ward us again, and we shall be killed.' She put forth the 
forked stick ; but the man did not mind it, and came straight 
toward her stone house. The stick itself split and there 
was nothing in the way. Then she took a bag of feathers 
and threw these outside. They flev/ up and down, and 
around, and seemed like a flock of partridges. The dog 
ran after them, through the bushes and trees, supposing 
them to be birds, and so the second man v/ent away. 

The days went by, and the third time Mother Bear saw 
a man coming. This time she said, 'Now we certainly 
are all going to die.' Then she said to the boy, 'Your father 
is coming now, and he is too good a hunter to be fooled. 
There is his dog, with his four eyes, and he, too, is one of 
the best of hunters.' Now when a dog has a light spot 
over each eye, the Indians say that he has four eyes. So 
the man came nearer. She tried the forked stick, but it 
split, and still the man and dog came on. She scattered the 
feathers, and they flew around as before, but the hunter 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 67 

and dog heeded them not, and still both came on. At last 
the dog reached the door and barked, and the man drew his 
bow and shot at anything that came out. 

"When Mother Oo-kwa-e saw the man standing there, she 
said, 'Now, children, we must all take our bundles and go.' 
So each of the Bears took a small bundle and laid it on its 
back, but there was no bundle at all for the boy. When 
all were ready, she said, 'I will go first, whatever may 
happen.' So she opened the door, and as she went out 
the man shot, and she was killed. Then the oldest of the 
Oo-tutch-ha said, 'I will go next,' and as he went he also 
was killed. 

"Th last little Bear was afraid, and said to the boy, 'You 
go first.' But the little boy was also afraid and said, 
*No; you go first. I have no bundle.' For all the Bears 
tried to get their bundles between them and the man. So 
the little Bear and the boy at last went out together; but 
though the Bear tried to keep behind, the man shot at the 
first and he was killed. As the hunter was about to shoot 
again, the boy called out, 'Don't shoot me! don't shoot me! 
I am not a bear!' His father dropped his arrow, for he 
knew his voice at once, and said, 'Why did you not call 
out before ? Then I would not have killed the Oo-kwa-e and 
Oo-tutch-ha. I am very sorry for what I have done, for 
the Bears have been good to you.' But the boy said, 'You 
did not kill them, though you thought so. You only shot 
the bundles. I saw them thrown down and the spirits of 
the Bears run off from behind them.' Still, the man was 
sorry that he had shot at the Bears. He wished to be 
kind to them as they had been to his boy. 

"Then the father began to look at his boy more closely, 
to see how he had grown and how he had changed. Then 
he saw that long hairs were growing between his fingers, 
for, living so long with them, he had already begun to 
turn into a Bear. He was very glad when he took the 
boy back to his home, and his friends, relatives, and the 
whole town rejoiced with him. All day they had a great 
feast, and all night they danced, and they were stil dancing ^ 
when I came away." In a variant of this the Bear tells . 
the father, in a dream, how to rid the boy of these long 
hairs. 



58 ISaQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Bear stories were very popular among the Iroquois, bears 
being their nearest relatives in the animal world. Three 
stories were collected by Mrs. E. A. Smith, and in these 
are several incidents here given, which appear separately 
and in no two of the three. In this story, according to 
Iroquois usage, the mother is placed before the father when 
the boy is missed. 

European stories are common both east and west among 
our Indians, but adapted to a new environment. Some are 
absolutely unchanged. "How the Bear lost his Tail" is of 
this class, and very popular in New York. Another has 
some modern actors, but I have met with nothing like the 
following Onondaga story. 



THE DUEL OF THE BEAR AND FOX 

For some reason the bear and fox fell out, and v/ere 
going to fight a duel. The fox chose a cat and a lame dog 
for his seconds, while the bear had the wolf and the pig, 
but the wolf kept away. The bear and the pig came to 
the place first, both a little afraid, and the bear said he 
would climb a tree and watch for the rest. The pig hid 
under the leaves by a log. The bear said, "I see the fox 
coming. He has two men with him, and one is picking up 
stones to throw at us !" For when the dog limped the bear 
thought he was picking up stones. The cat, too, raised its 
tail and waved it around. When it did this the bear said, 
"Now I see the other man. He has a big club, and 0\ 
how he waves it around! Lie down there! Keep still! 
They'll give it to us if they find us !" Then he looked again. 
"Yes, they're coming! Keep still! keep still!" 

"So the cat came under the tree and upon the log. The 
pig wanted to see, and tried to peep out; but when the cat 
saw the leaves moving she thought it was a mouse. Down 
she sprang in an instant, and had the pig by the nose. 
"Ke-week! ke-we-eek!" he squeaked and squealed, which 
scared the cat in turn, and she ran for the tree. The bear 
was so frightened when he saw her coming that he let go 
his hold, fell from the tree and was killed. Then I came 
away. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 59 

This is a child's story, allowing spirited action on the 
part of the frightened bear, but when the narrator imitates 
the pig's squeal there is intense delight among the Indian 
children. It was a favorite tale. 



CORN STORIES AND CUSTOMS 

The origin of maize, or Indian corn has been a subject 
of study with many men; the Indians disposed of it very 
simply. According to Roger Williams' story in 1643, "the 
crowe brought them at first an Indian graine of come in 
one eare, and an Indian or French beane in another from 
the great God Kautantowit's fields in the southweste, from 
whence, they hold, come all their corne and beanes." 

Van der Donck, in 1656, wrote that "they say that their 
corn and beans were received from the southern Indians, 
who received their seed from a people who resided still 
farther south." The native beans were of various forms 
and colors. The Dutch writer goes on: "They have a 
peculiar way of planting them which our people have 
learned to practice; when the Turkish wheat, or, as it is 
called, maize, is half a foot above the ground, they plant 
the beans around it, and let them grow together. The 
coarse stalk serves as a bean-prop, and the beans run upon 
it." Pumpkins or squashes were planted in the same way, 
and white farmers kept up the latter practice, and on the 
triple arrangement is founded the following picturesque 
tale, which I received at Onondaga. It used to be told by 
Joseph Lyon, or Ka-no-wah-yen-ton, see the backs of pros- 
trate people. 

"A line young man lived on a small hill, and being there 
alone he wished to marry. He had flowing robes, and wore 
long and nodding plumes, so that he was very beautiful 
to behold. Every morning and evening he came out of his 
quiet house, and three times he sang, "Che hen, Che hen, 
Sone ke kwah no wah ho ten ah you ke neah. Say it, say 
it, some one I will marry;" and he thought he cared not at 
all who it might be. For a long time he kept this up, at 
morn and eye, and still he was a lonesome young man. 

"At last a tall young woman came, with long hair neatly 



60 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

braided behind, as is the Indian style. Her beads shone 
like drops of dew, and her flowing green mantle was 
adorned with large golden bells. The young man ceased 
to sing, and she said, 'I am the one for whom you have 
looked so long. Now I am come to marry you.' But he 
looked at her and said, 'No; you are not the one. You 
wander so much and run over the ground so fast that I 
cannot keep by your side. Good friends we are sure to 
be, but I want a bride to make a home.' So the pumpkin 
maiden went away, and the young man was still alone, 
singing at night and morn, hoping his bride would come. 

"One day there appeared a slender young woman, of 
grace of form and fair of face. Her beautiful mantle was 
spotted here and there with lovely clusters of flowers, and 
groups of bangles hung upon it. She heard the song and 
drew near the singer. Then she said she could love dearly 
one so manly, and would marry him if he would love her 
in turn. The song ceased; he looked at her and was 
pleased, and said she was just the one he wished and for 
whom he had waited so long. They met with a loving 
embrace, and ever since the slender bean twines closely 
around the stalwart corn, he supporting her and she cher- 
ishing him." Perhaps it might be added that they are not 
divided in death, for beans and com form Indian bread. 

All this has nothing to do with the origin of corn, July 
20, 1743, John Bartram, Conrad Weiser and others were 
riding northward on a trail a little south of our present 
county line. Bartram said, "On our left we perceived a 
hill where the Indians say Indian com, tobacco and squashes 
were found on the following occasion: An Indian (whose 
wife had eloped) came hither to hunt, and with his skins 
to purchase another; here he espied a young squaw alone 
at the hill; going to her and enquiring where she came 
from, he received for answer that she came from heaven 
to provide sustenance for the poor Indians, and that if he 
came to that place twelve months after he should find food 
there. He came accordingly and found corn, squashes and 
tobacco, which were propagated from thence and spread 
through the country, and this silly story is religiously held 
for truth among them." 

Conrad Weiser mentioned this story in passing this liill 
in 1737. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 61 

I have it also in fuller form, from a Seneca source twenty- 
years later. The hill is Mount Toppin in Preble. 

Among- the Iroquois corn, beans and pumpkins are 
known as Our Life or Our Supporters, collectively, and 
L. H. Morgan gives the Seneca word for this as De-o-ha-ko. 
The Onondagas call them Tune-ha-kwe, those we live on. 
Onondaga had large crops of these in colonial times, and 
in several places here the ancient corn pits may yet be seen. 

In Handsome Lake's Religion as given by Sose-ha-wa, in 
1848, special mention is made collectively of these three 
foods. "Continue to listen : It has pleased our Creator 
to set apart, as our Life, the Three Sisters. For this special 
favor let us ever be thankful. When you have gathered 
in your harvest let the people assemble and hold a general 
thanksgiving for so great a good. In this way you will 
show your obedience to the will and pleasure of your 
Creator. Thus they said." But there were Indian thanks- 
giving days before Handsome Lake was born. 

In August, 1894, the preaching of the New Religion was 
publicly resumed at Onondaga, and this was carefully re- 
ported for the Syracuse Herald. In this the above quota- 
tion from Sose-ha-wa does not appear, nor is it in the 
Seneca version and translation published at Albany. Hoh- 
shair-honh, Stopper of a crowd, was the preacher at Onon- 
daga. The ceremony occupies several days, and white wam- 
pum is used. 



WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT 

A belief in witches and witchcraft is deeply rooted in 
the Iroquois mind, and deaths for this have occurred in 
quite recent times. While at Onondaga, 1887-88, Mr. De 
Cost Smith had several reminders of such things. One was 
of a double execution of witches at Oneida about 1825. He 
adds, "I was told last autumn that an old man had been 
put to death for witchcraft on one of the Canadian Iroquois 
reservations, about seven years before. He was killed by 
men who lay in wait for him and shot him from an am- 
bush. 'What was done by the dead man's friends?' I 
asked, 'Nothing ; they thought he had been at that business 
long enough.' 'And the white people?' 'They didn't know 



62 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

it'." He adds "During a general council of the Six Nations, 
held in August, 1888, of which the open confession of sins 
was one of the striking features, a chief of the Onondagas 
confessed that he had practised witchcraft, but, becoming 
penitent, had reformed." 

To quote my friend still farther, "An Onondaga, about 
fifty years of age, pointed out to me, quite recently, an 
old woman living on the reservation whom he believed to 
be a witch. He is quite convinced of it, for some years ago 
he was going home one night about eleven o'clock, when, 
just as he was going around a wooded hill, he saw this 
woman ahead of him. She was walking in the same direc- 
tion, and so did not at first see him. Her hair hung down 
over her eyes, and she blew from her mouth flames of 
different colors to light her path. As she did this her hair 
was licked by the flames and blown up from her face. He 
followed her, and when near the council-house began to 
run. She ran around the building and along the fence, un- 
til she come to a long log house (no longer standing) in 
which witches were said to congregate, and, as she reached 
the door, she once more blew flames from her mouth and 
disappeared within." (Witchcraft and Demonism of the 
Modern Iroquois, 1888, pp. 184-194.) 

Albert Cusick, who was ordained deacon by Bishop Hunt- 
ington, and to w^hom I am greatly indebted for my knowl- 
edge of Indian lore, gave me the next two stories, found 
at Onondaga. 

"A man, whose brother was very sick, suspected the 
witches of causing his illness. He tried to find out who 
they were and where they met, so he went to an old woman 
and told her he wanted to be a witch. She said, 'If you 
are very much in earnest you may be, but when you begin 
you must go to your sister and point at her. Then she 
will be taken sick, and after a time will die.' So he went 
and told his sister, and they arranged a plan. She was to 
pretend to be ill after he came home, and let this be known. 

"When night came he started for the place of meeting 
with the old woman, but, as he went he now and then broke 
off a leaf or a bit of underbrush. All at once the old woman 
sprang into a tree and clung to it, and as she turned around 
she was a great panther, with sharp teeth, long claws and 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 63 

glaring eyes. As she spat and snarled at him he was ter- 
ribly frightened, but pretended not to be afraid. So she 
came down as an old woman again, and said, 'Didn't I 
frighten you?' 'Oh, no,' he replied, 'I was not a bit afraid. 
I would like to be like that myself.' So they went on, and 
as they went he broke the brush here and there. 

"After a time they cam.e to an open place in the woods, 
where were gathered many old men and women, and some 
young Vvomen, too. He was surprised at those he found 
there. There was a little kettle over a fire in the midst 
of the place. It was very small indeed, not larger than a 
tea-cup. Over it hung a bunch of snakes, from which blood 
dripped into the kettle, and of this all drank a little from 
time to time. He pretended to drink, and after that looked 
carefully about to see who were there. They did many 
things and took many shapes, and often asked what he 
would like to be. He said, 'A screech owl.' So they gave 
him an owl's head, Vv^hich he was to put on later. They 
told him when he had this on he would be able to fly like 
a bird. He imitated the owl's cries and movements, and 
they said he would be a boss witch. When he put on the 
head he seemed to lose control of himself, and it took him 
over the trees to his brother's house. At the same time the 
meeting broke up, and the witches went off in various 
shapes, as foxe?, wolves, panthers, hawks and oavIs. 

"When he came to his brother's all in the house were 
scared at the noise of an owl on the roof, for he made 
sounds just like one. Then he took off the head and went 
into the house. He pointed at a dog, instead of his sister, 
and the dog sickened and died. His sister pretended to be 
sick, as they had agreed, and the witches came to see her. 
They mourned for her, just as though they had not intended 
her death, and talked about her illness everywhere. 

"The next day the young man got the warriors together 
and told what he had seen. They consulted and armed 
themselves, agreeing to follow him that night. The band 
went through the bushes and trees, finding the way by the 
twigs and leaves he had broken. They knew the spot, which 
was on their reservation, and when they reached it the 
witches' meeting had begun. They had officers and speak- 
ers, and one of these was making a fine speech. They said 



g4 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

if they killed any persons they would go to heaven, and 
the Great Spirit would reward the witches well. They 
might save their victims from much evil by killing them, 
for they might become bad or unfortunate. If they died 
now they would go to the Good Spirit. While he was speak- 
ing the young man gave a sign. The warriors rushed in 
and killed all the witches." 

The other story follows. "An old woman lived with her 
grandson, but went away from home every night. There 
was a loft in her cabin where she went every evening, but 
she would not let the boy go there. He asked many times 
where she went, but she would not tell him. When he 
seemed asleep she was off at once, and if he woke up when 
she returned, he heard curious sounds on the roof before 
she came in. 

"Once, while she was away during the day, he thought 
he would find out what he could. So he climbed into the 
loft. There was a hole in the roof, and in one corner of 
the loft there was a round chest of bark. In the bottom 
of this was an owl's head. 'Ah! this is very fine,' said he. 
'These will make good feathers for a hat.' So he put the 
owl's head on his head. At once he lost control of himself, 
and the head flew off with him. He did not know what 
would happen, but seemed and acted like an owl. Away 
he went, through the air, to a house where a sick woman 
lay, and flew all around it. A very crazy acting owl was 
he, as any owl might have been in the sun. He tried to 
stop himself, but could not. He caught hold of sunflowers, 
but they came up by the roots. He caught hold of bushes, 
and they did the same. At last he flew into the house and 
fell among the ashes, where the frightened people caught 
him. They found nothing but a small boy and an owl's 
head, but he told his stor>^ and thus a witch was found out." 

"The Cat Hole" at the Onondaga Reservation quarries 
is called Oost-sta-ha-kah-hen-stah, Hole in the rock and has 
the reputation of being a receptacle for the bodies of 
witches. Cusick told me that the sister of an old friend of 
his was killed and thrust into this as a witch. In Clark's 
Onondaga (i. 46) we are told that, "As late as 1803, four 
squaws were accused of witchcraft at the Castle, three of 
whom were executed." The fourth promised reformation 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 66 

and was spared. One of the three acknowledged her guilt. 
"She was taken to the top of the hill east of the Castle, 
killed with an axe and buried among the rocks." 

Mr. Clark is very definite in describing all the details 
of the offence and punishment, and one story of his, from 
Ephraim Webster, the Indian trader and interpreter, is 
worthy of notice : 

"Mr. Webster, in his conversations with the old settlers, 
said that an old Indian of the Onondagas used to relate 
that, at an ancient period, when a portion of the Onondagas 
had an extensive settlement and populous village on the 
flats east of Jamesville, that he resided there, and stepping 
out of his cabin one evening, he sank down deep into an 
immense cavern, which was brilliantly illuminated with 
flaming torches. No sooner had he reached the floor then 
he found himself instantly surrounded by hundreds of 
witches and wizards, who rather unceremoniously ejected 
him. The circumstance lay heavy upon his heart. 

"Early the next morning he proceeded to the council- 
house, and laid the matter before the assembled chiefs. 
They asked him if he could identify any of the persons he 
Tiad seen. He replied that he thought he could. He straight- 
way proceeded through the village, and pointed to this and 
that one, w^hom he thus signified as delinquents. They were 
at once doomed for execution, and without trial or cere- 
mony, upon the evidence or whim of a single individual, 
numbers of both sexes were killed. According to the tra- 
dition the slaughter was immense, it seemed there could 
be no end to the alarming panic; many of the people dis- 
persed, and for a season it was feared the whole nation 
would be broken up. It is said that more than half of 
those who remained at home were killed, amounting in all 
to hundreds." 

Mr. Clark based the first part of his story of "The En- 
chantress" on this, and gave the informer the name of 
Ta-hou-ta-nah-ka. The village was the one destroyed at 
Frontenac's invasion in 1696, rebuilt and then abandoned 
about 1720. Ephrain Webster died in 1824, aged 62 years. 
He came to Onondaga in 1786, at which date any influential 
chief of the earlier town — even in its latest years — would 
have been a good deal over a century old. I think the 



IS IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

story may have come through the interpreter but not from 
the leading actor in it. 

On this subject I will quote David Cusick again. After 
telling of a man who "drew hair and worms from the per- 
sons vv^hom the witches had blown into their bodies," he teils 
of the origin of this. 

"It was supposed that the Skaunratohatihawk, or Nan- 
ticokes in the south first founded the witchcraft. Great 
pains were taken to procure the snakes and roots which 
the stuff was made of to poison the people. The witches 
formed into a secret society; they met in the night and 
consult on various subjects respecting their engagements; 
when a person becomes a member of their society, he is 
forbidden to reveal any of their proceedings. The witches 
in the night could turn into foxes and wolves, and run very 
swift, attending with flashes of light. The witches some- 
times turned into a turkey or big owl, and can fly very 
fast, and go from town to town, and blow hair and worms 
into a person; if the witches are discovered by some per- 
son they turn into a stone or rotten log; in this situation 
they are entirely concealed ; about fifty persons were in- 
dicted for being v/itches, and were burnt to death near the 
fort Onondaga, by order of the national committee." The 
Nanticokes came into New York in 1753. 



ATOTARHO, THE ENTANGLED 

Though this chief became not only the principal chief 
of the Onondagas, but the head of the Five Nations, it is 
curious that Clark does not mention him. Neither is De- 
kanawida named, though claiming great honor. Hiawatha 
alone appears. I have already quoted David Cusick's ac- 
count of the first Atotarho, whom I place 1100 years later 
than he did. In ten centuries he names thirteen rulers of 
this line. At this rate the present chief should be the nine- 
teenth in succession. Yet within sixty years I have per- 
sonally known three men who have held this office. 

The name slightly varies according to the dialect, but 
all translate it "Entangled," except J. N. B. Hewitt, who 
makes it "He obstinately refuses to acquiesce." As regards 
the League he was irreconcilable. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION §7 

Some years ago I found an account of Atotarho and 
Hiawatha in William Dunlap's "History of the New Nether- 
lands, Province and State of New York," published in 1839. 
He had the story from Ephraim Webster in 1815, and the 
book is little known. 

An inferior chief of the Onondagas ''conceived the bright 
idea of union and of a great council of the chiefs of the 
Five Nations. The principal chief opposed it. He was a 
great warrior and feared to lose his influence as head man 
of the Onondagas. This was a selfish man. The younger 
chief, whom we will call Oweko, was silenced ; but he deter- 
mined in secret to attempt the great political work. This 
was a man who loved the welfare of others. To make long 
journeys and be absent for several days while hunting, 
would cause no suspicion, because it was common. He 
left home as if to hunt ; but taking a circuitous path through 
the woods, for all this great country was then a wilderness, 
he made his way to the village or castle of the Mohawks. 
He consulted some of the leaders of that tribe, and they 
received the scheme favorably; he visited the Oneidas, and 
gained the assent of their chief; he then returned home. 
After a time he made another hunt, and another; thus, by 
degrees, visiting the Cayugas and Senecas, and gained the 
assent of all to a great council to be held at Onondaga. 
With consummate art he then gained over his own chief, 
by convincing him of the advantages of the confederacy, 
and agreeing that he should be considered as the author 
of the plan. The great council met, and the chief of the 
Onondagas made use of a figurative argument, taught 
him by Oweko, which was the same that we read of in the 
fable, where a father teaches his sons the value of union 
by taking one stick from a bundle, and showing how feeble 
it was and easily broken, and that when bound together 
the bundle resisted his utmost strength." 

Atotarho no longer obstinately refused to agree. 

Dr. Hale said : "Another legend of which I have not be- 
fore heard, professed to give the origin both of the abnor- 
mal ferocity and of the preternatural powers of Atotarho. 
He was already noted as a chief and a v/arrior, when he 
had the misfortune to kill a peculiar bird, resembling a sea- 
gull, which is reputed to possess poisonous qualities of sin- 



68 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

gular virulence. By his contact with the dead bird his 
mind was affected. He became morose and cruel, and at 
the same time obtained the power of destroying men and 
other creatures at a distance. Three sons of Hiawatha 
were among his victims. He attended the councils which 
were held, and made confusion in them, and brought all 
the people into disturbance and terror. His bodily appear- 
ance was changed at the same time, and his aspect became 
so terrible that the story spread, and was believed, that 
his head was encircled by living snakes." 



WITCH WATER GULL 

This may be the bird described in Mrs. H. M. Converse's 
story of Ji-jo-gweh, the Witch Water Gull. This night 
bird had vampire wings which sucked the air, affecting 
everything they touched. The bird thirsted for blood and 
its breath was poison. If a feather dropped, blood fol- 
lowed, hard as flint and destroying life. Every where it 
left evil. It feared sunlight and moonlight, but roamed in 
darkness and the frightened people hid. Some tried to kill 
it, but the blunted arrows fell back, and misfortune befell 
the hunter. Nothing harmed it and the people lived in fear. 

A voice came to a young Indian girl. It she made a strong 
ash bow, twined it with her long hair, and feathered the 
arrow with a young eagle's down, she could kill it. She 
climbed the cliff to an eagle's nest and got the down. This 
she bound to her arrow. Then she made the ash bow, but 
asked advice of the medicine man. They placed a small 
bag of tobacco on her neck, and prayed the good spirits to 
guard her. Then she went to the lake where the bird 
nightly came to drink. No sound was there as yet, and 
she hid in the vines. Long she waited, but the bird came 
not. She took her bow to go home, when with a shriek 
the demon bird circled above her. She trembled, but the 
charm gave her courage and she drew her bow. The night 
air had softened it, and it was as straw. She was in des- 
pair, but clasped the charm, repeated the magic words, 
whispered them to the arrow, which went straight to the 
monster's heart. Screaming and flapping the waves with 
its wings, it sank in the lake. Where it sank some birds 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 69 

rose from the foam, and flew to the south. They were the 
white sea crows, which had been devoured by Ji-jo-gweh 
and were now released. When they are seen hurrying in 
flocks before a storm, Ji-jo-gweh is driving them, as he 
haunts the storm clouds. 

I add, in full, the story of "Ot-to-tar-ho, the Tangled," 
as given by Mrs. Converse and mentioned by Dr. Hale. 
This is from the "Myths and Legends of the New York 
State Iroquois," 1908, p. 117. Though collected by her 
they were edited by Arthur C. Parker, of the State Museum, 
Albany, after her death. 

"It was at some time during the remote period before 
the organization of the Iroquois Confederacy, that there 
was born among the Onondagas a most remarkable per- 
sonage named Ot-to-tar-ho, and whether myth or human, 
he still lives in a legend that will be remembered and re- 
told as long as there are Iroquois remaining. 

"The legend runs that in his youth he was gentle and 
mild, fond of innocent amusements and the chase, and was 
beloved by his people, v/ho looked forward to the time when 
he would be chosen their chief and become their counselor. 
But one day, when hunting in the mountains, he chanced 
to kill a strange bird which, though beautiful in plumage, 
was virulently poisonous. Unaware of its deadly nature, 
Ot-to-tar-ho, delighted with his prize, plucked its bright 
feathers to decorate his head, and while handling them in- 
haled their poison, which entering his brain maddened him, 
and upon his return to the village in insane rage, he sought 
to kill those whom he met. Amazed at the strange trans- 
form.ation the people were in great consternation, and fled 
from him in fear. No more was he the gentle Ot-to-tar- 
ho; no m.ore did he care for their games; no more did he 
care for the chase, but was sullen and morose, and shunned 
all companionship with his people, who also avoided him, 
for he had developed a mania for killing human beings. 

"The poisonous fire that burned in his brain had so 
distorted his features that he became hideous to behold; 
his long glossy hair fell from his head, and in its stead 
there grew surpents that writhed and hised, when he 
brushed them back from his face, and coiled around his 
pipe in rage when he smoked. 



70 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"Many believed he had been witched, that some ferocious 
animal had taken possession of him; others that he was 
controlled by an evil spirit who was seeking to destroy 
the nation. Various were the surmises of the people, but 
the mystery baffled them, and their appeals to their medi- 
cine men were received by these wise men in silence; yet 
they sought by long fasting and dancing, and various in- 
cantations, to appease the wrath of the evil one; but their 
efforts v/ere all in vain, for still the demon, if demon it 
was, continued to dominate Ot-to-tar-ho, who only became 
more furious and violent, and seemed to have been endowed 
with supernatural powers. 

"His mind had become so powerful that it could project 
a thought many miles through the air, and kill whosoever 
he desired. Developing clairvoyance of vision and prophecy, 
he could divine other people's thoughts, and through this 
power came to dominate the councils, assuming a control 
that none dared oppose, and ruled for many years with 
such insane and despotic sway that he broke their hearts, 
and the once powerful, proud, and most courageous of all 
the nations became abject and cowardly weak. 

"It was at this time that Hi-ant-wat-ha, (Hiawatha), 
grieving over the deplorable condition to which the demon- 
ized Ot-to-tar-ho had reduced his people, and desiring to 
promote their welfare and restore them to prosperity and 
the proud position they had lost, conceived the idea of 
forming a league which would unite the five nations, the 
Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas and Senecas, and 
in a bond of union and good fellowship, which would not 
only cement a tie of national brotherhood, but by their 
united action they would become more formidable in war, 
and better able to vanquish other nations, and extend their 
domain and power. But Ot-to-tar-ho v/as intractable and 
bitterly opposed to Hiawatha, and to defeat him put three 
of his brothers to death. 

"Although driven away by the relentless Ot-to-tar-ho, 
Hiawatha, actuated by his love for his people and great 
concern for their happiness, did not abandon the hope of 
effecting his purpose, and later returning, aided by a pow- 
erful chief, succeeded in placating the intractable Ot-to-tar- 
ho, by combing the snakes from his head with the warn- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 71 

pum, and the union was formed, the nations united, and 
the confederacy of the Iroquois — one of the greatest poli- 
tical organizations ever accomplished by either civilized 
or uncivilized peoples — was formed." 

Dr. Hale said the bird resembled a sea gull, hence I have 
given a story of this bird. He also said that Atotarho killed 
three sons of Hiawatha, Mrs. Converse making these three 
brothers. No other story mentions any male relatives of 
the great chief. No son could have succeeded him in office, 
descent being reckoned in the maternal line, but he has 
successors in Canada at the present time. 

In telling the following, in the Hiawatha tradition, Mr. 
A. C. Parker gives the name of my late friend. Baptist 
Thomas as Sa-ha-wi, which I had from him as So-hat-tis, 
Long Feather. The first is his name as a chief; I had 
some stories from Mr. Thomas, but not the following, which 
he gave Mr. Parker, premising that I take now only the 
part relating to Atotarho. 

Hiawatha had left the Mohawks, in great grief, after 
his sister, Da-si-yu, had died. He paddled up the Mohawk, 
made the portage, and came to Onondaga lake by Oneida 
lake and Three Rivers. 

"He landed on the north side, (near the present site of 
Liverpool) , and built a hut. (This spot he named Gaskwaso- 
etge.) Here he made a camp fire and stayed for three 
days. Then he saw the monster. He was a long way off 
and he was looking at Hayentwatha. So Hayentwatha 
moved his camp, but the next morning the monster came 
nearer. This being was Tha-do-da-ho. So the next even- 
ing Hayentwatha moved his camp again, and in the morn- 
ing again he saw the monster before his camp fire. It 
seems that he had snakes in his hair and covering his 
shoulders, and one great one came up from his thighs and 
went over his shoulders. Hayentwatha looked at Thadoda- 
ho and said 'Shon-nis?' (who are you?) The monstrous 
being did not reply, but his face looked very angry. 

"Again Hayentwatha changed his camp and built a shel- 
ter on one of the two islands in the lake. (Oneida). This 
spot he named Si-ye-ge. As before, the monster camped 
silently near him. He was nearer than ever before and 
seemed watching him from the corner of his eyes. 



72 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"So then again Hayentwatha moved his camping place. 
He crossed the lake and camped at the point on the south 
shore. As he built his lodge he looked inland and saw, 
seated on a knoll, the monster Thadodaho. He then ob- 
served that whatever move he made the snake-bearing 
monster was ever before him. He seemed to anticipate his 
movements. This fact frightened Hayentwatha and he 
prepared to take up his journey again." 

This time he went to the Onondaga village and for some 
years was free from his persecutor. Then we turn to an- 
other story. 

The time to do something came. Atotarho's presence, 
for some reason, was necessary, and he had to be sought 
out and cured. Dekanawida called for volunteers. Five 
nations had agreed on union. "Our next step is to seek 
out Adodarhoh. It is he who has always set at naught 
all plans for the establishment of the Great Peace. We 
must seek his fire and look for his smoke," said Dekana- 
widah. 

"The chief speaker of the council then said, 'We do agree 
to confirm all you have said, and we wish to appoint two 
spies who shall volunteer to seek out the smoke of Adodar- 
hoh.' 

"Two men then eagerly volunteered and Dekanawidah 
asked them if they were able to transform themselves into 
birds or animals, for such must be the ability of the mes- 
sengers who approached Adodarhoh. The two men replied, 
*We are able to transform ourselves into herons and cranes.' 

"Then you will not do, for you will pause at the first 
creek or swamp, and look for frogs and fish." 

"Two men then said, 'We have magic that will trans- 
form us into humming birds. They fly very swiftly.' 'Then 
you v>ill not do, because you are always hungry and are 
looking for flowers.' 

"Two other men then said, 'We can become the Dare, 
the white crane.' 'Then you will not do, because you are 
very wild and easily frightened. You would be afraid when 
the clouds move. You would become hungry and fly to the 
ground locking about for ground nuts.' 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 73 

"Then two men who were crows by magic volunteered, 
but were told that crows talked too loudly, boasted, and 
were full of mischief. 

"So then, in the end, two men, who were powerful by 
the magic of the deer and the bear, stepped before the 
council and were chosen. . , . 

"When the spies returned the speaker of the council 
said, 'Ska-non-donh, (Deer), our ears are erected.' Then 
the Deer and Bear spoke, and they said, *At great danger 
to ourselves we have seen Adodarhoh. We have returned 
and tell ycu that the body of Adodarhoh has seven crooked 
parts, his hair is infested with snakes, and he is a cannibal.' 
The council heard the message and decided to go to Onon- 
daga at midsummer. 

"Then Dekanawidah taught the people the Hymn of 
Peace and the other songs. He stood before the door of 
the long house, and walked before it singing the new songs. 
Many came and learned them, so that many were strong by 
the magic of them when it was time to carry the Great 
Peace to Onondaga. 

"When the time had come, Dekanawidah summoned the 
chiefs and people together, and chose one man to sing the 
songs before Adodarhoh. Soon, then, this singer led the 
company through the forest, and he preceded all, singing 
the Peace songs as he walked. Many old villages and camp- 
ing places were passed as they went, and the names were 
lifted to give the clan name holders." 

Tv/enty-two of these names are given, all said to be in 
the Mohawk territory, but some of them were prominent in 
other parts of the League. 

"Now they entered the Oneida country, and the great 
iliief Odetshedeh, with his chiefs, met them. Then all of 
them marcned onward to Onondaga, the singer of trie 
Peace Hymn going on ahead. 

"The frontier of the Onondaga country was reached, and 
the expedition halted to kindle a fire, as was customary. 
Then the chiefs of the Onondagas, v/ith their head men wel- 
comed them, and a great throng marched to the fireside 
of Adodarhoh, the singer of the Peace Hymn leading the 
multitude. 



74 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"The lodge of Adodarhoh was reached and a new singer 
was appointed to sing the Peace Hyinn. So he walked be- 
fore the door of the house, singing to cure the mind of 
Adodarhoh. He knew that if he made a single error or 
hesitated, his power would be weakened, and the crooked 
body of Adoharhoh remain misshapen. Then he hesitated 
and made an error. So another singer was appointed and 
he, too, made an error by hesitating. 

"Then Dekanawidah himself sang and walked before the 
door of Adodarhoh's house. When he finished his song he 
walked toward Adodarhoh, and held out his hand to rub 
it on his body and to know its inherent strength and life. 
Then Adodarhoh was made straight and his mind became 
healthy. 

"When Adodarhoh was made strong in rightful powers 
and his body had been healed, Dekanawidah addressed the 
three nations. He said, 'We have now overcome a great 
obstacle. It has long stood in the way of peace. The mind 
of Adodarhoh is now made right and his crooked parts 
are made straight. Now indeed we may establish the 
Great Peace." 

In "The Traditional Narrative of the Origin of the Five 
Nations," Atotarho twice appears. He meets Dekanahwi- 
dah early in his mission, but later makes a little trouble 
at Onondaga. I now record the first only. 

"Dekanahwidah continued his journey and came to where 
the great wizard, To-do-dah-ho, lived. This man was pos- 
sessed with great power as a wizard, and no man could 
come to him without endangering his life, and it is related 
that even the fowls of the air, whenever they flew directly 
over his place of abode, would die and fall down on his 
premises, and that if he saw a man approaching him, he 
was sure to destroy or kill him. This man was a cannibal, 
and had left the settlement to which he belonged for a long 
time, and lived by himself in an isolated place. 

"Dekanahwida came and approached the abode of the 
cannibal, and saw him carrying a human body into his 
house, and shortly he saw him come out again and go down 
to the river and draw some water. Dekanahwida w^ent 
closer, and when he had come to the house he went up onto 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 7^ 

the roof, and from the chimney opening he looked in and 
saw the owner come back with a pail of water, put up a 
kettle on the fireplace to cook his meal, and after it was 
cooked he saw him take the kettle from the fire and place 
it at the end of the fireplace, and say to himself, 'I suppose 
it is now time for me to have my meal, and after I am 
finished I will go where I am required on business.' 

''Dekanahwida moved still closer over the smoke hole, 
and looked straight down into the kettle. The man Tah- 
do-dah-ho was then moving around the house, and when 
he came back to take some of the meat from the kettle he 
looked into it, and saw that a man was looking at him 
from out of the kettle. This was the reflection of Dekana- 
hwida. Then the man, Tah-do-dah-ho, moved back and sat 
down near the corner of the house, and began to think 
seriously, and he thought that it was a most wonderful 
thing which had happened. He said to himself that such 
a thing had never occurred before as long as he had been 
living in the house, *I did not know that I was so strange 
a man,' he said. 'My mode of living must be wrong.' Then 
he said, 'Let me look again and be sure that what I have 
seen is true.' Then he arose, went to the kettle and looked 
into it again, and he saw the same object — the face of a 
great man — and it was looking at him. Then he took the 
kettle and went out, and went toward the hillside and 
emptied it there. 

"Then Dekanahwida came down from the roof, and made 
great haste toward the hillside, and when Tah-do-dah-ho 
came up the hill he met Dekanahwida. 

"Dekanahwidah asked Tah-do-dah-ho where he came 
from, and he said, 'I had cooked my meat, and I took the 
kettle from the fire and placed it on the floor. I thought 
that I would take some of the meat out of the kettle, and 
then I saw a man's face looking at me from the kettle. 
I do not know what had happened; I only know such a 
thing never occurred to me before, as long as I have been 
living in this house. Now I have come to the conclusion 
that I must be wrong in the way I am and the way I 
have been living. That is why I carried the kettle out 
of my house and emptied it over there by the stump. I 
was returning when I met you.' Then he said, 'From 
whence did you come?' 



78 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"Dekanahewidah answered, *I came from the west and 
am going eastward/ Then the man said, 'Who are you 
that is thus speaking to me?' 

"Then Dekanahwidah said, 'It is he who is called De- 
kanahwidah in this world.' Dekanahwidah then asked: 
'From whence have you come?' The man then said : 'There 
is a settlement to which I belong, but I left that settlement 
a long time ago.' 

"Then Dekanahwidah said, 'You will now return, for 
peace and friendship have come to you and your settlement, 
and you have now repented the course of wrong doing 
which you pursued in times past. It shall also now occur 
that when you return to your settlement you, yourself shall 
promote peace and friendship, for it is a fact that peace 
is now ruling in your settlement, and I want you to ar- 
range and settle all matters'." 

I make no effort here to reconcile the chronology of the 
Indian story-tellers, or even their facts — if we may call 
them such. The above is dated just after Dekanahwidah 
came from Canada, and before he had entered an Iroquois 
town. Of course he was not yet the famous Mohawk chief 
whom Pyrlaeus named, first of all, among the head chiefs 
of the Five Nations when the League was formed. Back of 
those v/ho did the work stands the man who devised the 
plan. The League "was suggested by Thannawage, an 
old Mohawk," said Pyrlaeus, writing in the Mohawk coun- 
try in 1743. 



HIAWATHA 



As most Indians have several names, I make but a sug- 
gestion of the identity of this Thannawage with Taenya- 
wahkee, which the Onondagas assured me was the true 
form of Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha, which was Mr. J. V. H Clark's 
name for Hiawatha until he laid aside divine power and 
dv/elt as a mere man at Cross lake. The fact that he be- 
came the second Mohawk chief in the present list, and ac- 
tually has a successor in Canada at the present time, favors 
this view. Along with this we have Webster's story, record- 
ed by Dunlap, that an inferior Onondaga chief really 
planned the League, worked for five years in obtaining the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 77 

consents of ail, and then triumphantly carried it through. 
The successors of that Onondaga chief have ever since been 
Mohawks. He won the aid of the powerful Dekanahwida 
and was not forgotten. 

I feel sure that in his story Mr. Clark received accounts 
of two persons, his Indian informants confusing these in 
the story of one great event. 

Dekanahwidah, with a foretold and important mission, 
comes across Lake Ontario in a mystic white canoe of stone, 
is received by Onondaga' hunters at Oswego, does great 
things for the people, yet refuses to be named among the 
future chiefs of that people. He stands alone. 

The second personal history begins, not at Lake Ontario 
out at Cross lake. This man is not great, but is very 
wise and very sympathetic. In trouble they turn to him 
for valued advice. He is a leader but there is something 
for them to do. In his quiet life among them he is acces- 
sible to all. He has known domestic joys and sorrows. 
In the greatest trial of all he does not forget what he can 
still do for others. 

So I recognize in Mr. Clark's story the two men who 
stood side by side in working out a great problem in our 
own national history. When wisdom and power work to- 
gether great results follow. 

As Mr. Clark's story first brought the name of Hiawatha 
before the public, it is proper that this should have promi- 
nence in any account of Onondaga folk lore. At the same 
time it is so well known locally that there is little need 
of giving well known details, which a few words will call 
to mind. 

Of course there is no occasion to dwell on— hardly to 
mention a well known tale of our western Wonder Land, 
bearing Hiawatha's name. The wise Onondaga, using no 
labials, would have broken down in trying to utter the 
names 'of his supposed Algonquin friends. It was beyond 
his power to do this. Yet Longfellow did a great work in 
this poetic way. His own fame insured the resultant fame 
of the great Iroquois chief, and gave the world itself some 
idea of frequent scenes in our forest life. In picturing 



78 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

his hero he grasped the idea of a thoroughly unselfish man r 

r 

"How he prayed and how he fasted. 
How he lived, and toiled, and suffered, 
That the tribes of men might prosper, 
That he might advance his people." 

I have already quoted Dunlap's account of Hiawatha, 
under the name of Oweko, and his emphatic words : "This 
was a man who loved the welfare of others." All stories 
agree in this. 

In giving Mr. Clark's later tale I may make some run- 
ning comments on it, which will not interfere with the nar- 
ration, and some of these may be in his own words. Less 
known tales will be given in full. He had his story from 
Abraham La Fort and Capt. Frost at Onondaga in 1843, 
and wrought it out carefully with a view to oratorical 
effect, reading it in Fayetteville the next winter, and before 
the Manlius Lyceum in the village where he lived. It was 
well received and took permanent form in the history of 
Onondaga in 1849. To him we owe Hiawatha's name, vari- 
ously rendered in other Iroquois dialects, and variously 
translated. 



CANASSATEGO'S TALE 

An earlier reference to the origin of the Five Nations, 
as such, is from Canassatego — not the great Onondaga, but 
a Seneca chief who lived in Ohio. In 1755, William Henry, 
a trader among the Indians there, was made captive by 
the hostile Senecas, and had become quite a favorite with 
them in the third year of his bondage. He said, "Old Canas- 
satego, a warrior, counsellor, and the chief man of our vil- 
lage, used to come frequently to smoke and talk with me." 
Finding him curious on various subjects the old chief gave 
him much information. As the story is not well known, 
I give "his account of the manner in which his country 
was made and peopled." 

"^Vhen our good Manitta raised Akanishionegy out of 
the great waters he said to his brethren, 'How fine a coun- 
try is this! I will make the red men the best of men to 
enjoy it.' Then with five handfuls of red seeds, like the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 79 

eggs of flies, did he strew the fertile fields of Onondaga. 
Little worms came out of the seeds and penetrated the earth, 
where the spirits who had never yet seen the light enterd 
into and united with them. Manitta watered the earth with 
his rain ; the sun warmed it ; the worms with the spirits in 
them grew, putting forth little arms and legs and moved 
the light earth that covered them. After nine moons they 
came forth perfect boys and girls. Manitta covered them 
with his mantle of warm purple cloud and nourished them 
with milk from his finger ends. Nine summers did he nurse 
them, and nine summers more did he instruct them how to 
live. In the meantime he had made for their use trees, 
plants and animals of various kinds. Akanishionegy was 
covered with woods and filled with creatures. 

'Then he assembled his children together and said, 'Ye 
are five nations, for ye sprang each from a different hand- 
ful of the seed I sowed; but ye are all brethren, and I 
am your father, for I made ye all ; I have nursed and 
brought you up : — 

"Mohocks, I have made you bold and valiant, and see, 
I give you corn for your food. Oneidas, I have made you 
patient of pain and of hunger; the nuts and fruits of the 
trees are yours. Sennekers, I have made you industrious 
and active ; beans do I give you for nourishment. Cayugas, 
I have made you strong, friendly and generous ; ground 
nuts and every root shall refresh you. Onondagoes, I have 
made you wise, just and eloquent; squashes and grapes 
have I given you to eat, and tobacco to smoke in the council. 
The beasts, birds and fishes I have given to you all in com- 
mon. 

"As I have loved and taken care of you all, so do you 
love and take care of one another. Communicate freely to 
each other the good things I have given you, and learn to 
imitate each others virtues. I have made you the best people 
in the world, and I give you the best country. You will 
defend it from the invasion of other nations, from the chil- 
dren of other Manittas, and keep possession of it for your- 
selves, while the sun and moon give light and the waters 
run in the rivers. This you shall do if you observe my 
words. 

"Spirits I am now about to leave you. The bodies I have 



80 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

given you will in time grow old and wear out, so that you 
will be weary of them, or from various accidents they will 
become unfit for your habitation and you will leave them. 
I cannot remain here always to give you new ones. 

"I have great affairs to mind in distant places, and I can- 
not again attend so long to the nursing of children. I 
have enabled you, therefore, among yourselves to produce 
new bodies ; to supply the place of old ones, that every one 
of you, when he parts with his old habitation, may in due 
time find a new one, and never walk longer than he chooses 
under the earth, deprived of the light of the sun. Nourish 
and instruct your children, as I have nourished and instruc- 
ted you. Be just to all men and kind to strangers that come 
among you. So shall you be happy and beloved by all, and 
I myself will sometimes visit and assist you.' 

"Saying this he wrapped himself in a bright cloud and 
went like a swift arrow to the sup, where his brethren 
rejoiced at his return. From thence he often looked at 
Akanishionegy ; and, pointing, showed with pleasure to his 
brothers the country he had formed, and the nations he 
had produced to inhabit it. 

"Here the five nations lived long and happily, communi- 
cating freely to each other, as their wants required, all the 
good things that had been given them, and generations had 
succeeded generations, when the great evil Manitta came 
among them and put evil thoughts into their hearts. Then 
the Mohocks said : 'We abound in corn, w^hich our brothers 
have not; let us oblige them to give us a great deal of 
fruits, beans, roots, squashes and tobacco for a very little 
corn ; so shall we live in idlenes and plenty, while they labor 
and live hardly.' And in the same manner spoke the other 
nations. Hence arose discord, animosity and hatred, in- 
somuch that they were on the point of lifting the hatchet 
against each other and miring the ground with brothers' 
blood. Their Father saw this from the sun, and was angry 
with his children. A thick blue and red cloud covered all 
the land, and he spoke to them in thunder. 'Wretches,' said 
he, 'did I not freely give to each of different kinds of good 
things, and those in plenty? that each might have some- 
thing in his power to contribute to his brother's happiness, 
and so increase the happiness and strengthen the union of 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 81 

the whole? and do you now abuse those gifts to oppress 
each other ; and would one brother, to make himself, in im- 
agination, more happy, make four brethren in reality more 
miserable! Ye have become unworthy of the goodness I 
have shown you, and shall no longer enjoy my favors.' 
Then the sun of Akanishionegy gave forth darkness in- 
stead of light, so that the day was darker than the night, 
the rivers ran backwards to the mountains, and, with all 
their fish, re-entered the fountains from whence they 
sprang, forsaking their ancient beds and leaving dry the 
banks they used to water. 

"The clouds withheld their rain, and carried it away to 
other regions. The surface of the earth became dust; 
whirlwinds filled the air with it, and every breathing crea- 
ture was almost stifled ; every green thing withered ; the 
birds flew away; the beasts ran out of the country and, 
last of all, the afflicted people, famished nearly to death, 
their dry eyes not having even a tear left, departed sori'ow- 
ing, and were scattered among the neighboring nations, 
begging everywhere for food, from those who despised them 
for their late wickedness to one another. 

"Nine summers passed away, and their distress con- 
tinued. Then the evil spirit left them, for they no longer 
listened to his counsels; they began mutually to feel and 
to pity one another's misfortunes ; they began to love and to 
help each other. The nations among whom they were 
scattered now began to esteem them, and offered to adopt 
and incorporate them among themselves. But they said: 
*No; we are still a people; we choose to continue still a 
people; perhaps our great Manitta will restore us to our 
country, and we will then remember this your offered kind- 
ness.' 

"The great Manitta, seeing their hearts changed, looked 
on them with compassion. He spoke, and the sun again 
gave light; the rivers again came forth from the fountains, 
and ran rejoicing through the delighted valleys; the clouds 
again showered on the thirsty earth; the trees and plants 
renewed their verdure ; the birds and beasts returned to the 
forests, and the five nations, with glad and thankful hearts, 
went back to repossess their ancient seats. From that time 
down to the present day, it has been an inviolable rule and 



g2 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

custom among the nations, that every brother is welcome 
to what a brother can spare of the good things which the 
spirit has caut-ed to spring for him out of the earth. 

"All the Indians applauded Canassatego, and said they 
had heard that good story often, but never before so well 
repeated. Indeed ... it was admirably expressed and de- 
livered." 

Mr. Henry follov.^ed this with an eulogy on Indian elo- 
quence. Golden, in his History of the Five Nations, says : 

"The speakers whom I have heard had all a great fluency 
of words, and much more grace in their manner than any 
man could expect among a people entirely ignorant of the 
liberal arts and sciences. ... I have heard an old Indian 
sachem speak with much vivacy and elocution, so that the 
speaker pleased and moved his audience with the manner 
of delivering his discourse which, however, as it afterwards 
came from the interpreter, disappointed us in our expecta- 
tions. After the speaker had employed a considerable 
time in haranguing, with much elocution, the interpreter 
often explained the whole by one single sentence. I believe 
the speaker, in that time, embellished and advanced his 
figures, that they might have their full force on their ima- 
gination, while the interpreter contended himself with the 
sense, in as few words as it could be expressed." 

Mr. Jasper Parrish, interpreter for the Senecas, once 
said it was altogether impossible for him to impart to the 
translations anything like the force and beauty of the 
originals. He also said that on great occasions, the Indian 
orators. Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother in particular, 
not only studied their speeches and conned them well, but 
sent to him for rehearsals, that they might be assured that 
he understood them fully and could translate them accur- 
ately. 

The foregoing deals with the Five Nations as a body,, 
and some things are suggestive of Clark's Hiawatha story. 
There is no reason to suppose the latter ever saw the above 
tale, which may be called unique. In fact it suggests pres- 
ent day problems. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 83 

HIAWATHA 

In his history Mr, Clark related the story twice, each 
narration supplying some details not found in the other. 
In one he is sent by Ha-wen-ne-yu, and appears as a grey- 
haired man. Obstructions to navigation are removed at 
Oswego Falls. A lodge is built to protect the white canoe, 
and other minor matters appear. 

In a general way, in this story, Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha, accord- 
ing to him the god of fisheries and hunting grounds, or 
more correctly, said my interpreter, Ta-en-ya-wah-ke, The 
Holder of the heavens, landed at Oswego from his white 
canoe, seemingly a sturdy old man, ascended a hill on the 
xvest side of the river and looked back on the lake over 
which he had come, exclaiming "Oshwahkee! Oshwahkee!" 
which Mr. Clark interpreted, "I see everywhere and see 
nothing!" From this he said, Oswego has its name. The 
name reallj^ means "flowing out," and in early colonial 
times was applied to the river from Cayuga lake down- 
ward. Grand River, in Ontario, Canada, has this name and 
gave it to Lake Erie. The Great Kanahwha, in Virginia, 
had the same Iroquois name. 

The mysterious visitor v/as approached by two Onon- 
daga hunters, who had watched his landing and been im- 
pressed by his appearance, and they became his companions 
in v/onderful adventures. 

In the white canoe they all ascended the river to free 
the country from monsters and enchantments. After re- 
moving obstacles at Oswego Falls, a great serpent was des- 
troyed, which stretched across the stream in the smoother 
water above. Another had the same fate some miles above 
this, and the fish confined between were freed. The Thun- 
der gods usually do this work. They made an outlet to 
Onondaga Lake, which once extended far back among the 
hills. The magic paddle made a slight indentation, which 
the water quickly deepened. The salt springs were laid 

bare otherwise there would have been no Salt Point. Near 

Baldwins ville the enchantress who guarded the chestnut 
trees was destroyed. There have been fine trees there ever 
since, often as strictly guarded as of ycre. 

The most marvelous adventure was above Cross Lake — 



84 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

at least it began there. Two great mosquitoes, one on each 
bank, "held the fort," so to speak, and destroyed all who 
tried to pass. One was soon slain, and the other fled, with 
incredible swiftness. The foe was close behind. 

Here I must use my own notes, from original sources. 

The monster fled to Oneida, — then back to Niagara river. 
An indented stone, near there, shows where the pursuer sat 
down to rest and have a smoke. He laid down his pipe 
and it burned a brown hole in the rock, which the Tusca- 
roras used to show. At Brighton, in Syracuse, the Great 
Mosquito got well tired, took to the ground and left his 
foot prints in the sand. Chief Abraham Hill told me he 
had seen them there. They were bird-like and about twenty- 
inches long. His pursuer's tracks were there, too, but I 
asked for no description of them. 

The monster met its death near North Syracuse, at a 
place still called Kah-yah-tak-ne-t'ke-tah-ke, where the mos- 
quito lies, by the Indians. Alas for the results. Its body 
decayed and became myriads of insects. 

Clark's account also told of the killing of two great eagles 
at the Montezuma marshes. These prevented the escape 
of innumerable water fowl. 

The work of the great deliverer was over for the time 
being. He laid aside his divine nature, assumed the name 
of Hiawatha, or the very wise man, and made his home 
at Cross Lake, Te-ung-to, or home of the wise man, accord- 
ing to Clark. The Onondagas call it Teu-nen-to, at the 
cedar place. Hiawatha's name will be discussed later. 

There was a quiet time till the great Huron war came 
on, involving the Algonquins of Canada. A great council 
met on Onondaga Lake, close by the village of Liverpool 
and a fine place for it. The peril was great. Hiawatha 
was summoned, and after a time came with gloomy fore- 
bodings. His beautiful daughter was with him, and as 
they landed from the white canoe, a great white bird 
swooped down, crushing the lovely and loved girl, and being 
itself killed. There is some difference of opinion about 
this bird — of more interest than importance. Mr. Clark 
said this was the White Heron, quite rare here. Its plumes, 
he said, were gathered up and worn by the bravest war- 



ONONDAGA PIISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 85 

riors. Mr. Alfred B. Street, the author of Frontenac, had 
part of the story from a Cayuga chief, who said the Senecas 
called it Sah-da-ga-ah, and the Onondagas, Hah-googhs, 
with the same fate. Albert Cusick, my Onondaga inter- 
preter, caled it Hah-kooks, the winter gull, the bird that 
never lights. 

For the incident itself my friend, Dr. Horatio Hale of 
Canada, was told that a strange bird was shot, just at 
dusk, and there was a rush to see what it was. Hiawatha's 
daughter, in delicate health, was knocked down, trampled 
upon and died. The father was stupefied, but a merry 
chief at last roused him, and business went on. The League 
was formed. Hiawatha made the last speech to each nation 
and all present, seated himself in his white canoe, and rose 
to heaven amid the sweetest melody. 

It is just here that a question arises. Mr. Clark used the 
story first as a lecture, naturally with some embellishments. 
He afterward said, in his controversy with Schoolcraft on 
the authorship of the story: "The name *Hosee-noke.' at 
p. 278 of the 'Notes' is an unadulterated fiction of my ov,-n, 
created for the occasion. . . . Again, the speech of Hiawatha, 
as it appears at p. 280 of the Notes, is a pure invention 
of my own." 

These fictions do not discredit the reception of the main 
features of the story from his Onondaga friends, and he 
cited them only to prove Schoolcraft's plagiarism, but the 
speeches have often been carelessly quoted as the veritable 
v/ords of Hiawatha. The leading statements will stand as a 
rule, but it is well to remember that a writer's words may 
not always be, as he himself says, precisely those of his 
Indian friends. 

The story of the white canoe may be taken with reser- 
vations, but mainly because it must be compared with that 
of Dekanahvvida, which may well be thought the original 
tale in this respect. In that case two stories have simply 
been told or received as one. If we hold fast to Hiawatha, 
having never heard of his co-worker, we have the voyager 
coming from the north on Lake Ontario, apparently from 
the early homes of the Onondagas, in the Black River coun- 
try, perhaps from. Out-en-nes-son-e-ta, Where the Iroquois 
League began to form — an allusion to its Onondaga origin. 



86 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

In Canada and Northern New York canoes were made of 
birch bark. In wars against Canada the Iroquois used 
brown elm bark for the same purpose, and their canoes 
were ruder in every way than those of their enemies. If 
it was his, Hiawatha's white canoe is a natural and pic- 
turesque picture of the local story. 

The heavenward flight of Hiawatha and the celestial 
music may be an embellishment or not — we cannot tell — 
but may also have a more prosaic explanation. Up to the 
first great council at Onondaga Lake, Hiawatha's home and 
affiliation had been with the Onondagas. Because of his 
cordial reception by the Mohawks and his friendship for 
their chief — for a long time his closest companion — he had 
now cast in his lot with them and became a Mohawk chief. 
As such his name is heard in the great roll call of the 
condoling song. Historically conditions were changed, and 
it v/as natural that he should sing a parting song, one 
of rejoicing because a great and glad task was triumphantly 
ended. If he went down the lake in a white canoe all the 
better. White is a sign of peace, w^ell known in every land. 
And if we would know the words there is no need of in- 
vention. We can use some of those sung on another peace 
occasion at Onondaga, in 1655: 

"Good news! good news indeed! It is all good, my bro- 
ther. It is every way good that we speak of peace to- 
gether; that we use such heavenly words. O! the beauti- 
ful voice that thou hast, my friend ! O ! the beautiful voice 
that I myself have ! Farewell to war ; farewell to its cruel 
hatchet! Long have we been insane, but henceforth we 
are brothers — brothers indeed. To-day the Great Peace is 
made. Farewell to war ! Farewell to arms ! All we have 
now done is in every way beautiful and good." 

Could anything have been better for the final act of the 
Great Peace of an earlier day? Would not the world re- 
joice to make this Onondaga song our own? 

Mr. Schoolcraft had the manuscript of the story from 
Mr. Clark and claimed it as his own, saying he had re- 
ceived the tale from the Onondaga chiefs nam.ed. Hence 
the quotations I have made. He made his census report, 
published by the State. His "Notes" are an enlargement 
of this, with more and fuller vocabularies from various 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 87 

sources. These are valuable, but he now ranks low on 
Iroquois themes. Longfellow had Hiawatha's name from 
him and used western legends collected by him. With 
poetic license he added new features, ignored or improved 
some of those he found, but all belong to a distinct Indian 
family, of a strange language, and have nothing to do 
with the Iroquois statesman. 

As an actual statesman he now poses — not as a warrior. 
His real personality is now proved by the fact that the 
second Mohawk chief, in lineal succession, now bears his 
name as a title. There are mythical stories about the first 
bearer of the name. It could hardly be otherwise. Under- 
lying these is a real history. The following quotation from 
L. H. Morgan's League of the Iroquois (p. 101) is of a 
mixed character. He said: — 

"Da-ga-no-we-da, the founder of the confederacy, and 
Ha-yo-went-ha, his speaker, through whom he laid his plans 
of government before the council which framed the League, 
were both 'raised up' among the fifty original sachems, 
and in the Mohawk nation; but after their decease these 
two sachemships were left vacant, and have since contin- 
ued so. 

"Da-ga-no-we-da was an Onondaga, but was adopted by 
the Mohawks and raised up as one of their sachems. Hav- 
ing an impediment in his speech he chose Ha-yo-went-ha 
for his speaker. They were both unwilling to accept ofllice, 
except upon the express condition that their sachemships 
should ever remain vacant after their decease. These are 
the two most illustrious names among the Iroquois." 

In his list of Mahowk chiefs, however, Ha-yo-went-ha 
comes second, and Da-ga-no-we-da third, Dr, Hale says 
of this, (Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 31), "During my last 
visit to my lamented friend (in September, 1880), when we 
examined together my copy of the then newly discovered 
Book of Rites, in which he was greatly interested, this 
point was considered. The original notes which he made 
for his w^ork were examined. It appeared that in the list 
as it was first written by him, from the dictation of a well- 
informed Seneca chief, the name of Dekanawidah was not 
comprised, A later, but erroneous suggestion from another 
source, led him to believe that his first informant was mis- 



85 ■ IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

taken, or that he had misunderstood him, and to substitute 
the name of Dekanawidah for the somewhat similar name 
of Shatekariwate (in Seneca Sadekeiwadeh), which stands 
third on the roll, immediately following that of Hiawatha.** 

This restores the usual statement. Dekanawidah alone 
had no successor. Hiawatha heads a long line. In 1897 
a published list of Canadian chiefs showed David Thomas 
as his successor. 

Before leaving the historical features of the case, I may 
again quote Dr. Hale who treated the subject from this 
point of view in his "Lawgiver of the Stone Age," written 
after interviewing Iroquois chiefs at Onondaga, N. Y. and 
elsewhere. To them the supernatural features were only 
picturesque additions to a real narrative. He may have 
made Hiawatha too wise and good, but has united Iroquois 
support in this. His own opinion was "that the justly 
venerated author of this confederation, the far famed Hia- 
watha, was not, as some have thought, a mythological or 
a poetical creation, but really an aboriginal statesman and 
lav/ maker, a personage as authentic and admirable as 
Solon or Washington. The important bearing of these con- 
clusions on our estimate of the mental and moral endow- 
ment of primitive or uncultivated man is too clear to re- 
quire explanation." 

Dr. Hale, v/ho studied the subject carefully and on both 
sides, said: "The Five Nations, while yielding abundant 
honor to the memory of Dekanawida, have never regarded 
him with the same affectionate reverence vv^hich has al- 
ways clung to the name of Hiawatha. His tender and 
lofty wisdom, his wide reaching benevolence, and his pres- 
ent appeals to their better sentiments, enforced by the elo- 
quence of which he was master, touched chords in the popu- 
lar heart which have continued to respond until this day. 
Fragments of the speeches in vv^hich he addressed the coun- 
cil and the people of the League are still remembered and 
repeated." 

■^.Turning now to mere tradition we find one great differ- 
ence between the Hiawatha story given to Mr. Clark and 
recorded by him, and the many now known. In the one 
case he comes and at once removes some great evils. Then 
for several years he leads a quiet life, from which he is 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION S9 

called to a great council which is swayed by his advice. 
In the other case he leaves home, where his advice is not 
Avanted, travels for years to secure the welfare of others, 
and then takes second place, not above the sky, but as a 
Mohav/k chief. It will suffice to tell the story in its simple 
and yet picturesque form. | He is but a man, but one who 
has an object before him. He has adventures — like those 
of others, a little exaggerated. He plans, travels and per- 
suades, perseveres, and it is no wonder he succeeds. -^ 

I give, first of all, a summary of Dr. Hale's account of 
Hiawatha, as he received it in 1875, from Philip Jones, 
(Ha-ne-se-hen), second Onondaga chief, at Onondaga, N. 
Y. He was the narrator, but two other chiefs probably 
made suggestions. He died September 24, 1877, aged 43 
years. Daniel La Fort was interpreter. 

The narrator said that Hiawatha was a chief of high 
rank and much esteemed, though many of his friends and 
relatives had perished through the machinations of Atotar- 
ho. Many evils were felt by the Onondagas, and when 
Hiawatha called a general council of that people there was 
a hearty response. They came from every part. 

It availed nothing. "There appeared among them a well 
known figure, grim, silent and forbidding, Avhose terrible 
aspect overawed the assemblage. The unspoken displeasure 
of Atotarho was sufficient to stifle all debate, and the meet- 
ing dispersed. This result ... is sufficiently explained by 
the fact that Atotarho had organized, among the more 
reckless warriors of his tribe, a band of unscrupulous par- 
tisans, who did his bidding without question, and took 
off by secret murder all persons against whom he bore a 
grudge. The knowledge that his followers were scattered 
through the assembly, prepared to mark for destruction 
those who should offend him, might make the boldest orator 
chary of speech. Hiawatha alone was undaunted." 

He called a second and a third council. To the last one 
no one came, and Hiawatha left the towm, outside of which 
he passed his foe, seated by a well-known spring. It was 
enough. "Hiawatha plunged into the forest; he climbed 
mountains ; he crossed a lake, he floated down the Mohawk 
river in a canoe. Many incidents of his journey are told, 
and in this part of the narrative alone some occurrences 



90 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

of a marvelous cast are related, even by the official histori- 
ans." 

"Leaving aside these marvels, however, we need only 
refer here to a single incident, which may well have been 
of actual occurrence. A lake which Hiawatha crossed, 
had shores abounding in small white shells. These he 
gathered and strung upon strings, which he disposed upon 
his breast, as token to all v/hom he should meet that he 
came as a messenger of peace. And this, according to one 
authority, was the origin of wampum." 

Early one morning he came to the Mohawk town where 
Dekanawidah lived. One account made him an Onondaga, 
adopted by the Mohawks, while another makes him of 
Mohawk birth. For Hiawatha's purposes it was enough 
that he was influential and might aid him. He was one of 
seven brothers, inmates of one long house. So the traveler 
sat by the village spring; waiting his opportunity. 

"Presently the wife of one of the brothers came out 
with a vessel of elm bark, and approached the spring. Hia- 
watha sat silent and motionless. Something in his aspect 
awed the woman, who feared to address him. She returned 
to the house, and said to Dekanawidah, 'A man, or a 
figure like a man, is seated by the spring, having his breast 
covered with strings of white shells.' *It is a guest,' said 
the chief to one of his brothers; 'go and bring him in. We 
will make him welcome.' Thus Hiawatha and Dekana- 
widah first met. They found in each other kindred spirits." 
The work went prosperously on. 

Of course there are variants. One stor\^ has the shells 
from Oneida lake; others from Tully; the meetings of 
the chiefs vary greatly, and. their birthplaces even more. 
I add the variants I have received at Onondaga, as briefly 
as possible. 

In one of these Hiawatha, unable to do anything at home, 
begins his journey and lies down by a small lake to rest. 
An immense flock of ducks alights on the surface, hiding 
it from his sight. It was wonderful and a greater v/onder 
followed. He stirred and the birds were frightened. Every 
wing was spread, and in their hasty and swift flight they 
bore every drop of water away. This opened another scene. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 91 

The bottom of the pond was v/hite with shells, sugg-esting 
a new use, and for this he gathered many, stringing them 
at his leisure and need. This, says this story, was the 
first Iroquois wampum, which Hiawatha caused to be used 
in all important business affairs. So, when the Dutch 
came to Manhattan the market was open for the real wam- 
pum or Ote-ko-a, which the Iroquois use even at the present 
day — when they can get it. 

But my Onondaga stories tell of a change of materials. 
Hiawatha at last was far do\^Ti the Mohawk valley, and it 
Vvas near night when he approached a Mohawk town. It 
was not in good form for a person of note to enter an 
Iroquois to^^^l uninvited ; so he made a shelter and kindled 
a nre. The light was seen and messengers came to inquire 
his business. He made no reply but went on stringing 
quills of the wampum bird. This wonderful bird soars 
above the clouds, but he had power to bring it down. 
The messengers were puzzled by his queer ways but asked 
the question again. Still no answer came, and they returned 
to the town. 

"What have you seen?" asked the chief. "We have seen 
an old man," they said, "who looks tired and sits by a 
fire, but he does not rest. He has curious quills, such as 
we have not seen before. One by one he puts these on 
strings and hangs them by the fire, but not a word will he 
say." 

"Go back," said the chief, "and tell him we offer him 
warmth and food, safety and shelter here." They went 
forth and gave their message, and Hiawatha said, "Tell 
your chief he must send me a string like the one I now 
have and then I will gladly enter your town. I come with 
plans for lasting peace." 

Dekanawida had no quills from the wampum bird, but 
wisely used those of the partridge instead. These were ac- 
cepted, and then came the first lecture on the use of wam- 
pum, always indispensable since then. I had my first lec- 
ture from an Oneida chief, whose ample supply covered 
almost every need. From Hiawatha's traditional use of 
thess strings may have come Dr. Hale's idea that his name 
referred to the making of the wampum. Belt of Wampum 



92 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Avas the name of a later Onondaga chief, not resembling 
this. 

The two chiefs were now friends and the Onondaga un- 
folded his plans. The Mohawk agreed to these at once. 
They went westward on their mission and soon came to a 
large band of Oneidas, resting beneath and around a great 
tree. From this Hiawatha called them Ne-ah-te-en-tah- 
go-na, Big Tree People, and this is still their council name. 
All the Oneidas at that time lived high on the hills, far 
from the lake. 

In the grand council it is the custom to address them 
by this and not by the more common national name. Each 
nation has both these, and in a council with but one nation 
the national name may be used. Leaving the first party 
the tv/o chiefs soon came to another large band, grouped 
around a large boulder of peculiar form. Hiawatha called 
them Oneota-aug, People of the Upright Stone. From this 
comes the Oneida national name. In picture writing a 
stone in the crotch of a tree combines the names. 

The Onondaga council name is Seuh-no-keh-te, Bearing 
the Names, and this might be applied to Hiawatha, for he 
gave names on every trip. There were several of these, for 
each nation wanted plenty of time. In the way of names 
I group them as one. Thus, when they passed through 
Oneida lake they were thirty miles north of the great 
frail to Onondaga. As they glided by the islands in the 
lake, then unnamed and without a history, Hiawatha had 
a name ready. "This is Se-u-kah, Where the waters divide 
and meet again. The Onondagas still know the lake by this 
name. 

At the Montezuma marshes they found Indians spearing 
eels, of which the voyagers partook. Hiawatha said, "These 
are Tyu-ha-kah, People of the rushes. They shall be the 
Eel clan." At various places he named all the clans. The 
voyagers were glad to reach firm land beyond, and called 
it Cayuga, Where they draw the boats out. 

The following story about Hiawatha I take from "The 
Dekanawida Legend," retaining the form of name used in 
that. Two attempts for a council with Atotarho had failed 
and a third was made, and seriously affected by a counter 
movement. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 93 

"Another council was held in the lodge of a certain great 
dreamer. He said, 'I have dreamed that another shall 
prevail. He shall come from the north and pass to the 
east. Hayonwhatha shall meet him there in the Mohawk 
country, and the two together shall prevail. Hayonv/hatha 
must not remain with us, but must go from us to the Flint 
land people.' So when the journey across the lake was at- 
tempted there was a division, and the dreamer's council 
prevailed. Then the dreamer held two councils, and those 
who believed in him conspired to employ Osinoh, a famous 
shaman. 

"Hayonwhatha had seven daughters, whom he loved and 
in whom he took great pride. While they lived the con- 
spirators knew^ he would not depart. With the daughters 
dead they knew the crushing sorrow would sever every tie 
that bound him to Onondaga. Then he would be free to 
leave and in thinking of the people forget his own sorrow. 
Hayonwhatha could not call the people together, for they 
refused further to listen to his voice. The dreamer's council 
had prevailed. 

"At night Osinoh climbed a tree overlooking his lodge. 
Filling his mouth with clay he imitated the sound of a 
screech owl. Calling the name of the youngest daughter 
he sang : 

'Unless you marry Osinoh you will surely die, — whoo-hoo.' 

"In three days the maiden strangely died. Hayonwhatha 
was disconsolate, and sat sitting with his head bowed in his 
hands. He mourned, but none came to comfort him. In 
like manner five other daughters passed away and the grief 
of Hayonwhatha was extreme. 

"Clansmen of the daughters then went to the lodge of 
Hayonwhatha to watch for they knew nothing of Osinoh's 
sorcery. They gathered close against the large trees and 
in the shadows of the bushes. The clansmen suspected 
some evil treachery and were to discover it. 

"There was no moon in the sky when Osinoh came. Cau- 
tiously he came from habit, but he was not afraid. He 
drove his staff in the ground, he breathed loud like a magic 
totem animal snorting, and then he climbed the tree. He 
spat the clay about the tree to imitate the screech owl, 



94 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

and as he did he said: 'Si-twit, si-twit, si-twit.' Then he 
sang: 

'Unless you marry Osinoh you shall surely die, whoo-hoo !' 

"The morning came and Osinoh descended. As he touched 
the ground a clansman shot an arrow and transfixed him. 
Prostrate fell Osinoh and the clansman rushed at him with 
a club. Osinoh looked up. 'You are unable to club me,' 
he said. 'Your arm has no power at all. It weakens. To- 
day I shall recover from the wound. It is of no purpose to 
injure one.' It was true indeed; the clansmen could not 
lift the club to kill Osinoh. Then Osinoh arose and went 
home, and in three days the daughter died. So perished 
all by the evil magic arts of Osinoh. 

"The grief of Hayonwhatha was terrible. He threw 
himself about as if tortured and yielding to the pain. No 
one came near him, so awful was his sorrow." He said he 
would go away and be a woodland wanderer. 

"Toward the south he went and at night he camped on 
the mountain. This was the first day of his journey. On 
the second day he descended and camped at the base of the 
hill. On the third day he journeyed onward and when even- 
ing came he camped in a hickory grove. This he named 
0-nea-no-ka-res-geh, and it was on the morning he came 
to a place where round jointed rushes grew. He paused 
as he saw them, and made three strings of them, and when 
he had built a fire, he said : 'This would I do if I found any 
one burdened with grief, even as I am. I would console 
them, for they would be covered with night and wrapped 
in darkness. This would I lift with words of condolence, 
and these strands of beads would become words with which 
I would address them.' 

"So at this place he stayed that night and he called the 
spot 0-hon-do-gon-wa, meaning Rush-land. 

"When daylight came he wandered on again, and alter- 
ing the course of his journey turned to the east. At night 
he came to a group of small lakes, and upon one he saw 
a flock of ducks. So many were there and so closely to- 
gether did they swim that they seemed like a raft. 'If I am 
to be truly royaneh (noble),' he said aloud to himself, 'I 
shall here discover my power.' So then he spoke aloud 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 95 

and said: 'Oh you who are 'floats' lift up the water and 
permit one to pass over the bottom of the lake dry shod.' 
In a compact body the ducks flew upward suddenly and 
swiftly, lifting the water with them. Thus did he walk 
down the shore and upon the bottom of the lake. There 
he noticed, lying in layers, the empty shells of the water 
snail, some shells white, and others purple. Stooping down 
he filled a pouch of deer skin with them, and then passed 
on to the other shore. Then did the ducks descend and re- 
place the water. It was here that Hayonwhatha desired 
to eat, for the first time. He then killed three ducks and 
roasted them. This was the evening of the fifth day. 

"In the morning he ate the cold meat of the roasted 
ducks and resumed his journey. This was the sixth day, 
and on that day he hunted for small game and slept. On 
the morning of the seventh day he ate again and turned his 
way to the south. Late in the evening he came to a clearing 
and found a bark field hut. There he found shelter." 

Thence he was called to a village w^here a council was 
held, but, as his advice was not asked he quietly went away 
on the tenth day. That evening this happened again. He 
sat in the council for seven days, but was not consulted. 
The eighteenth day a runner came from a seashore town. 
Hayonwhatha was to go to the Mohawk towns and meet 
Dekanawidah. Five men escorted him. 

"On the fifth day the party stopped on the outskirts of 
the town where Dekanawidah was staying and there they 
built a fire. This was the custom, to make a smoke so that 
the town might know that visitors were approaching, and 
send word that they might enter without endangering their 
lives. The smoke was the signal of friendship." 

So on the twenty-third day the two great leaders met. 
With eight strings of shells Dakanawidah consoled the 
visitor, whose mind was thus made clear, so that he was 
satisfied and once more saw things aright. He was ready 
for the work of making the Great Peace. 

My old friend. Baptist Thomas, brings out this feature 
of one ceremonial condolence in the Hiawatha story which 
Mr. Parker had from him. Thus he said: "When a man's 
heart is heavj^ with sorrow, because of death, he v/anders 



9S IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

aimlessly (wa-he-des-yas-sha-da-na). That is why Ha-yent- 
wa-tha v/ent away from the Mohawks. His only sister — 
he had only one sister — died. She was Da-si-yu, and she 
died. She was not a comely woman, but her brother loved 
her, and so Ha-yent-wat-ha mourned and no one came to 
comfort him. Not one person came to him in his grief, to 
comfort him, therefore his mind was clouded in darkness. 
His throat was dry, heavy and bitter. So he went away, 
for he did not wish to stay among a people who had no 
hearts of sympathy for sorrow. 

"The Mohawks had grown callous, and so accustomed 
to troubled times that they did not care for the sorrow 
of others, and even despised the tears of mourners. They 
were always lighting. They even sent out war parties 
among their own relatives in other towns. Hayentwathah 
often said this was wrong, but no one listened to him. So 
when his great sorrow came he went away. He took a 
canoe and went up stream. He paddled up • the Mohawk 
river, and when he landed to camp he talked to himself 
about his sorrow. 'I vv^ould comfort others in sorrow,' he 
said, 'but no one comforts me'." 

After various adventures, "he prepared to take up his 
journey again. His sorrow was not diminished but hung 
like a black cloud over him. His heart was very heavy 
and there was no clear sky for him. ... So Hayentwatha 
journeyed in his canoe up Onondaga creek. So, in this man- 
ner, he came to the Onondaga village. How long he stayed 
at the Onondaga town, my grandfather, Tom Commissary, 
did not say. Some say he stayed there and married. Some 
say he enjoined the Onondaga towns to be at peace and stop 
their quarreling. After a time, when another great sorrow 
came, — some say it was because his daughters died — he 
again continued his journey. ... So Hayentwatha went 
south up Onondaga creek, and he came to a certain spot 
where a brook enters the creek, and he saw there a pond 
and a grassy place. There, it is said, he saw a very large 
turtle and some women playing ball. Some say that boys 
were playing ball, but I say that women were playing ball, 
because my grandfather said so. So Hayentwatha called 
this place Dwen-the-gas, and said from this spot comes the 
Ball Clan ( D v/en-the-gas Ha-di-nya-ten) of the Great 
Turtle. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 97 

"Hayentwatha continued his journey and went over Bear 
Mountain. First he camped, at night, at the foot of the 
high hill. Here he built a shelter. That night he heard 
a song, and its words were what he believed and had spoken 
many times to the Onondaga chiefs and to the Mohawks. 

"In the morning he ascended the mountain, and there he 
found five stalks of corn springing from four roots, and 
there was only one large stalk at the root from which the 
five stalks grew. On each stalk were three large ears of 
ripe corn. Near the corn he saw a large turtle with a 
red and yellow belly, and it was the turtle that danced. 
He danced the Ostcwagona, the great feather dance. So 
then Hayentwatha said, 'Did you sing last night? I heard 
singing.' Then the turtle replied, 'I sang. Now this is 
the great corn, and you will make the nations like it. Three 
ears represent the three nations, (first to agree) and the 
five stalks from a single stalk represent the five nations, 
and the four roots go to the north and west, the south and 
east.' 

"Hayentwatha proceeded on his journey and after a 
time he came to a group of lakes. He called it Tga-ni-ya-da- 
ha-nion (the lake group on hill." 

These were the Tully lakes, and the duck episode is des- 
cribed. Leaving Hiawatha I turn to his co-worker. 



THE DEKANAWIDA LEGEND 

The story of Dekanawida has been little known to the 
people of New York, until quite recently, as compared with 
those of Atotarho and Hiawatha. David Cusick wrote the 
first at so early a day, and under such circumstances as to 
attract wide attention. Mr. Clark's history of Onondaga 
was one of the pioneer efforts in that class of literature. 
With the Indian reservation close by and with the full 
confidence of its chiefs, he easily brought together much 
interesting early material. For quite a time every new 
county history told the tale of Hiawatha. Not one men- 
tioned even the name of Dekanawida. Yet a Moravian mis- 
sionary in the Mohawk valley placed his name at the head 
of those who founded the great Iroquois League. 



98 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Canada has been more fortunate in this respect, and in 
VRYying forms we have practically a homogeneous story, 
part of which follows. 

"North of the beautiful lake (Ontario) in the land of 
the Crooked Tongues, (Wyandots), was a long winding 
bay, and at a certain spot was the Huron town, Ka-ha-nah- 
yenh. Near by was the great hill, Ti-ro-nat-ha-ra-da-donh. 
In the village lived a good woman who had a maiden daugh- 
ter. Now strangely this virgin conceived and her mother 
knew that she was about to bear a child. The daughter, 
about this time, went into a long sleep and dreamed that 
her child should be a son whom she should name Dekana- 
wida. The messenger, in the dream, told her that he should 
become a great man, and that he should go among the Flint 
people to live, and that he should also go to the Many Hill 
Nation, and there raise up the Great Tree of Peace." 

The grandmother greatly disliked the infant boy, fearing 
disaster to her nation, and told her daughter she must drown 
the child. 

"So the mother took the child to the bay, and chopped 
a hole in the ice where she customarily drew water, and 
thrust him in, but when night came the child was found 
at its mother's bosom." She tried it the second time, and 
the third time the grandmother did the same, with the 
same results. After that they cared for the child, which 
grew fast and became a strong and handsome man. The 
Hurons used him badly, though he was honest and truth- 
ful. They had a different reputation, and besides all this, 
hated a man who preferred peace to war. So he was not 
sorry to leave home. 

"He said: 'The time has come when I should begin to 
do my duty in this world. I will, therefore, begin to build 
my canoe, and by to-morrow I must have it completed, be- 
cause there is work for me to do to-morrow, when I go 
away to the eastward. Then he began to build his canoe 
out of a white rock, and when he had completed it Dekana- 
wida said: *I am ready now to go away from home, and 
I will tell you that there is a tree on top of the hill, and 
you shall have that for a sign whenever you wish to find 
out whether I am living or dead. You will take an axe 
and chop the tree, and if the tree flows blood from the cut, 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 99 

you will thereby know that I am beheaded and killed, but 
if you iind no blood running from this tree after you have 
chopped a chip from it, then you may know that my mis- 
sion was successful." This reminds one of European tales. 

"Then Dekanawida also said : 'Come to the shore of the 
lake and see me start away'." They came, and his grand- 
mother said, "How are you going to travel, since your canoe 
is made out of stone. It will not float." 

"Then Dekanawida said, 'This will be the first sign of 
wonder that men will behold; a canoe made out of stone 
will float.' Then he bade them farewell, put his canoe 
in the lake and got in. Then he paddled away to the east- 
ward. ... In a few moments he disappeared out of their 
sight." 

Observe how the following resembles Hiawatha's coming 
to Oswego. 

"It happened at that time a party of hunters had a 
camp on the south side of the lake now known as Ontario, 
and one of the party went toward the lake and stood on the 
bank of the lake, and beheld the object coming toward 
him at a distance, and the man could not understand what 
it was that was approaching him; shortly afterward he 
understood that it was a canoe, and saw a man in it, and 
the moving object was coming directly toward where he 
stood, and when the man (it was Dekanawida) reached the 
shore he came out of his canoe and climbed the bank. Then 
Dekanawida asked the man what had caused them to be 
where they were, and the man answered and said : 'We are 
here for a double object. We are here hunting game for 
our living, and also because there is a great strife in our 
settlement.' Then Dekanawida said, 'You will now return 
to the place from whence you came. The reason that this 
occurs is because the Good Tidings of Peace and Friendship 
have come to the people, and you vAll find all strife re- 
moved from your settlement when you go back to your 
home." Thus it was. 

There are different accounts of Dekanawida's going to the 
Mohaw^ks and his reception there; his meetings with Hia- 
watha varying quite as much. 

In one of the former immediately "after a journey across 



100 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

the lake he came into the hunting territory of the Flint 
Nation. He journeyed on to the lower fall (Cohoes) of the 
river of the Flint Nation, and made a camp a short way 
from the fall on the flat land above it. He sat beneath 
a tail tree and smoked his pipe in quiet meditation." 

There came the usual visit and questions, and when he 
announced that he was sent to establish the Great Peace, 
he was asked for some proof of this. He said he was ready 
to give this. He would climb to the top of a tall tree over- 
hanging the fall, and they should chop this down, throwing 
him into the depths below. It was done and a multitude 
saw him disappear. They thought him surely drowned. 
The next morning smoke rose from a deserted cabin, and 
there sat Dekanawida, cooking his morning meal. No fur- 
ther proof was asked. 

In the other case he visits all the towns, meeting Hia- 
watha on his way. The final Peace council was held near 
Liverpool on Onondaga lake. There was a preliminary 
conference of four nations on the opposite shore. These 
two chiefs bring some across in the white stone canoe, 
which Hiawatha guides. A great storm twice arises 
through Atotarho's magic power, and twice Dekanawida 
commands peace and a great calm follows. Hiawatha goes 
back for some late comers, including the Peace Queen or 
Mother of Nations. He tells them that if they cross in a 
great calm, it will mean that the Great Peace will be estab- 
lished, and so it was. The lake was still. 



NAMES OF FOUNDERS OF LEAGUE 

Something may be said on the names of these three chiefs 
which are varied in sound by dialects, and sometimes modi- 
fied by the hardening of some letter. This is the case with 
that of Atotarho, as given by David Cusick. It is usually 
translated entangled, but Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt gives another 
spelling and meaning, Wathatotarho, he obstinately refused 
to acquiesce. 

Dekanawida he defines as two river currents flowing to- 
gether. He thought him a pine tree chief, anticipating too 
much. Mr. A. C. Parker accepts the definition but in "The 
Constitution of the Fve Nations," page 15, is this : "I am 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 101 

Dekanawidah, so named because my virgin mother dreamed 
that it should be so and no one else shall ever be named 
by this name." He wished to stand alone as the great foun- 
der of the League, and in every other possible way he vvould 
stand alone. The opening clause of the Great Peace reads : 
"I am Dekanawidah, and with the Five Nations' Confeder- 
ate Lords I plant the tree of the Great Peace. I plant it in 
your territory, Adodarhoh, and the Onondaga Nation, in 
the territory of you who are Fire Keepers." 

Hiawatha's name is variously defined. Daniel La Fort 
could give me no meaning, though Mr. Clark said he had 
that of very wise man, from La Fort's lather. He probably 
misunderstood him, as the Onondagas often applied such 
words as we do — descriptively and not as names. Dr. Hale 
translated the name, he who makes or seeks the wampum 
belt, alluding to the stories of this. There were no wam- 
pum belts in Hiawatha's day, as they are usually defined. 
Lewis H. Morgan's Seneca interpreter gave it as he who 
com.bs, alluding to his combing of Atotarho's head. Pere 
Cuoq suggested the river maker, with which Hewitt agrees. 
My able interpreter, Albert Cusick — who also aided Dr. 
Hale and A. C. Parker, and was highly esteemed by ail — 
told me, after much study, that it essentially meant one who 
has lost his mind and seeks it, knowing where to find it; 
i. e. he might seem crazy to some, but would come out all 
right. He knew what he was about. This certainly fits the 
case, and Mr. Parker accepts it in a briefer form. As with 
us, some names are easily defined, some have lost their 
meanings, and others, after much study, vvill remain un- 
certain. 

Dr. Hale records the somewhat boastful words of Dekana- 
wida in refusing to have a successor. "Let the others have 
successors," he said proudly, "for others can advise you 
like them. But I am the founder of your league, and no one 
else can do what I have done." Dr. Hale added: "The 
boast was not unwarranted. Though planned by another, 
the structure had been reared mainly by his labors." It 
may be the opinion of some people that a really generous 
man would net have claimed all the credit. 

The facts remain : in 1743 the list of head chiefs of the 
several nations began with the name of Dekanavdda. There 



102 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

has been no chief of that name recorded since, save as he 
appears in a separate class of founders in the great condol- 
ence song. These are the words: — 

"Now then, thou wert the principal of this Confederacy, 
Dekanawidah, with the joint principal, his son, Odah- 
sheghte; and then again his uncle, Dadodaho; and also 
again, his son, Akahenyon ; and again his uncle, Kandariyu ; 
and then again his cousin, Shadekaronyes." The first name 
is that of the Mohawk head chief, and the others of the 
other nations. Not so in the roll call of the fifty chiefs 
who were to have successors. The Mohawk list begins 
thus : — 

"Now then, hearken ye who were rulers and founders: 

"Tehkarihhoken ! Continue to listen, Thou who wert 
ruler. 

"Hayenwatha! Continue to listen, Thou who wert ruler. 

"Shadekariwade ! That was the roll of you. 

"You who were joined in the work, 

"You who completed the work. The Great League." 



WAMPUM BELTS 



The Thacher case brought out a good deal about certain 
belts. Two of these mentioned in the testimony, and the 
most valuable, were not in controversy, but were fully ex- 
plained by the chiefs. I bought them for the State Museum, 
without difficulty, and they are the widest belts on record, 
one being 50 and the other 45 rows wide. Both are shorter 
than when I first saw them. The so-called tree belt is 
the widest. I simplify the description in the testimony. 

A belt of wampum like these two is a carpet for Toda- 
daho to sit on. Nothing evil can fall upon it, and two promi- 
nent women had brooms to keep it clean. The Five Nations 
furnished him with a stick, which lay close by where he 
sat, an emblem of a limited power given him by them. If 
this was not strong enough he would ask them to come and 
help him. He would first ask of the invader, "What is 
your business in coming here?" 

Hiawatha and Tododaho were at the formation of the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 103 

League 300 years ago. The widest belt (50 rows) repre- 
sents an everlasting tree, always growing and reaching 
up to heaven that all nations may see it, and under it they 
set a common fire to burn forever — the council fire of the 
Five Nations. It was to be kept at Onondaga, the Onon- 
dagas being the expounders of the law. The second belt, 
of 45 rows, is an alliance belt with many successive dia- 
monds, suggesting that, beside the original nations, there 
v/as room in the league for more. 

After they had ratified the League, so it is said, they 
looked far away and saw a darkness, and in the darkness 
an unknown and strange face, but they could not under- 
stand what it was. It came to be interpreted that the 
League would be forced to adopt an unknown law, which 
might come before that generation passed away. Their 
heads would roll and roll away, but after a time they would 
recover their bodies, and then they would embrace the law 
they had lost, and the council tree would grow forever. 
When the original law was restored the League would be 
more permanent than the first one, and the original law 
would forever remain. 

This was the last belt made at that ratification. When 
the belt was read, it was said by one of the speakers in 
that council: "This is the last belt which we make con- 
firming the laws we have just adopted." Then he en- 
couraged the people of the Five Nations to learn the mean- 
ing of the wampum, so that they might observe the laws. 
At the conclusion of his speech he said, "As long as you 
follow the laws of the Five Nations you will be prosperous 
and happy ; but whenever the people heed not the instruc- 
tions we are giving you, there will be dissensions among 
our people. Our last remark is — if you disregard and 
disobey the laws we have made, that generation will suffer." 
Hiawatha made that speech. 

When the council ended he went up Onondaga creek, 
making the clans and distributing belts among them. I 
have a curious account of this. It is claimed he did not die 
but went up in his canoe, saying, "When you fall into a 
state of confusion, I will come back." 

He also saw the strange face appearing in the dark- 
ness, and said it was the unknown law coming to prevail 



104 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

over the new law; i. e., the law just adopted and the tree 
of peace just planted. The root of this tree would spread 
from north to south and from east to west. While this 
was spreading all the Five Nations would lay their heads 
upon it. This root was the constitution of the League. 
If any foe should try to harm this, by destroying their 
people or laws, the man who struck the root would burn, 
with blood flowing from his mouth. That is, the blow 
would be avenged. The roots of this great tree would 
spread forever. Forever the fire would burn and its smoke 
rise to heaven, so that all nations should see it. Forever 
would the laws be annually read. 

The first meetings of this great council were at Onon- 
daga lake, near or at Liverpool. The last was in East 
Genesee street, Syracuse, near the Bastable block, the Onon- 
dagas now say. The belts were made at this council and 
were completed at the last meeting, when everything was 
ratified. That is what the Indians say. Really they are 
of recent make and less than 150 years old. 

Hiawatha, they said, was the proclaimer of councils and 
the only proper person to call a council. He will come 
again, but when he did not say. He did not die, and when 
he comes again he will renew the old and make it stronger 
than at first. That is the hope of the Onondagas. I will 
speak of these belts again. 



THE RETURN OF THE SUN 

The usual story of the fall of the woman from the upper 
world makes her the mother of two sons, the Good and 
the Bad Mind, but this is not invariable. She has a daugh- 
ter and thus lives long as the grandmother of the two boys. 
This, among others, is the Onondaga story of the orderly 
evolution of the world, as given by Mr. J. N. B. Hewitt, 
(21st annual report of Bureau of Ethnology) . From this 
I have selected many incidents which allow of separate 
treatment. The one here given I have called "The Return 
of the Sun." The grandmother believed that the older 
brother caused the death of his mother, and he innocently 
incurred her dislike. There v/ere occasional family scenes. 
I leave out many details and tell the tale in my own words. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 106 

Odendonnia (Sapling) came to his grandmother's lodge, 
and she was angry, as usual. She left the house and took 
away the head of his mother, of which she had made the 
sun. Her body became the moon, and she took both, when 
night came, and went easterly with her younger grandson. 
This was quite inconvenient. At the end of three days 
Odendonnia said, "I will go and bring back the sun. It is 
not good that the men who are to dwell on the earth should 
live in darkness. Who will go with me?" A man-being, 
called the Fisher, said: "I will go." Another man-being, 
called the Raccoon, said "I will also go." Another, named 
the Fox, said, ''I will go too." Others offered aid. 

Odendonnia said, "Who will make the canoe?" The 
Beaver said, 'T will make it." A man-being called the Yel- 
low Hamm.er (woodpecker) said, "I will make the hollow 
part." Others also helped. 

Odendonnia said, "Hurry up the work !" and in a short 
time the canoe was finished and launched. Then he said, 
"Who will steer?" The Beaver said, "I will do it," and 
the Otter said, "I will help." So they embarked and went 
on their way. Then he said, "You must steer the canoe 
eastward," and they paddled it swiftly. It was dark, very 
dark, but they went on. Then it grew lighter, and it was 
daylight when they landed. It was on an island with tall 
trees, some of which bent far over the water, and when 
they touched these the canoe stopped. 

Then said Odendonnia, "Who will go to yonder treetop and 
unfasten the sun?" Then the Fisher said, "I will try;" and 
the Fox said, "I will go too." So the Fisher climbed the 
trees, passing along the branches toward the place where 
the sun was tied. The Fox ran alorig below. The Fisher 
soon arrived at the sun and bit off its bonds. Then he re- 
moved it and threw it down to the Fox. Both now ran 
toward the canoe, and were fully half way back before the 
grandmother saw what had happened. 

Then she was angry again, and wept and reproached her 
grandson. Tears availed not, so she pursued the fugitives. 
Fox ran on the ground and Fisher in the trees, and when 
the old woman was about to seize Fox, he threw the sun up 
to Fisher and he caught it. The old woman then pursued 
him, and when he was almost caught he dropped it to the 



106 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Fox, and thus it went on till they reached the canoe. Fisher 
got in first, and next came the Fox with the sun in his 
mouth. It was a very pretty race, and then the canoe left 
the shore. 

It v*^as far away when the old woman reached the water's 
edge, but her voice had not failed her, and she called loudly 
to Odendonnia, "Why hast thou done this thing? Thou 
should'st pity me and allow the sun to go back and forth." 
Of course he knew that she wanted to keep it in one place, 
if she could, so he said not a word though she called thrice. 

Then she called to the Fox and said, "By thy magic thou 
canst make the sun go to and fro." Though she thrice said 
this he answered nothing. Thrice she said the same thing 
to the Fisher, but he answered not, nor did any one else 
speak. Then she thrice appealed to the Beaver, with the 
same words, but there was no reply. But her magic power 
was greater than that of the Otter, and when she called to 
him he said, "So be it." She answered at once, "I am thank- 
ful." But the Beaver said to the Otter, "Thou hast done a 
wrong and dreadful thing;" and he struck the Otter in the 
face with his paddle. His face was flattened by the stroke 
and all otters have now flat faces. 

When they reached home Odendonnia said, "I am glad 
that we have returned well and successful. Now will I 
fasten the sun on high, where it shall remain fixed forever, 
but it shall continually pass over the visible sky." He did 
the same with the moon, but it does not appear how that 
was brought home. 

In David Cusick's version the Good Mind "took the par- 
ent's head, (the deceased) of which he created an orb, and 
established it in the center of the firmament, and it became 
of a very superior nature to bestow light to the new world, 
(now the sun) and again he took the remnant of the body 
and formed another orb, which Vv^as inferior to the light, 
(now the moon.) In the orb a cloud of legs appeared to 
prove it was the body of the good mind, (parent.) The 
former was to give light to the day, and the latter to the 
night; and he also created numerous spots of light, (now 
stars;) these were to regulate the days, nights, seasons, 
years, etc." 

In a Mohawk version (Hewitt) the body becomes the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 107 

sun, and the head the moon. This also has the carrying- off 
and return of the sun, which I have found nowhere else. 



THE SUN 



Mr. A. C. Parker said : ''The sun, according to a myth 
in the writer's collection, is the chief messenger of the 
Creator. It is his duty to observe all the activities of men 
and nature, and report them to his superior. 'He is the eye 
of the Creator,' said Sosondowa, who related the tale. The 
sun is especially the patron spirit of v/ar, and lingers as he 
watches the conflict. Thus days of battle are longer. Each 
morning he emerges from under the sky dome (horizon) 
where its rim touches the far east sea. The east wind blows 
as he mounts the sky path, though 'may be it is the wind 
of the bowl when it is lifted.' When Endeka Dakwa de- 
scends on the west water, the bowl lifts again for the frac- 
tion of a moment, and he shoots under and leaves the world 
to Night. The raising of the sky dome twice each day, 
makes the tides of the ocean, 'but they don't come even now 
days,' remarks the myth teller." The sun does his work 
through helpers, whom evil spirits oppose. 

Morgan says : "There is a popular belief among the Iro- 
quois that the early part of the day is dedicated to the Great 
Spirit, and the after part to the spirits of the dead." At 
Onondaga I was told that Hawenneyu liked to rest in the 
afternoon, but I heard nothing of spirits of the dead. 



OOT-KWA-TAH, OR THE PLEIADES 

The above Onondaga word means "There they dwell in 
peace," and I had the story from Albert Cusick, in his home 
on the Onondaga reservation. There are several stories of 
this kind, more or less variable. This one begins thus: — 

"A long time ago a party of Indians went thi-ougl; the 
woods toward a good hunting ground, which they long had 
known. They traveled several days through a ver>^ v>dld 
country, going on leisurely and camping by the way. At 
last they reached Kan-ya-ti-yo, 'the beautiful lake,' where 
the gray rocks were crowned with great forest trees. Fish 
swarmed in the waters, and at every jutting point the deer 



j^Qg IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

came down to bathe or drink of the lake. On the hills and 
in the valleys were huge beech and chestnut trees, where 
squirrels chattered, and bears came to take their morninp: 
and evening meals. 

"The chief of the band was Hah-yah-no, Tracks in the 
Water, and he halted his party on the lake shore that he 
might return thanks to Hawenneyu for their safe arrival at 
this good hunting ground, 'Here will we build our lodges 
for the winter, and may the Great Spirit, who has pros- 
pered us on our way, send us plenty of game, and health 
and peace.' The Indian is always thankful. 

The pleasant autumn days passed on. The lodges had 
been built and hunting had prospered, when the children 
took a fancy to dance for their own amusement. They were 
getting lonesome, having little to do while the others were 
busy, and so they met daily in a quiet spot by the lake to 
have what they called their jolly dance, and very jolly they 
made it. 

"They had done this for quite a time, when one day a 
very old man came to them. They had seen no one like 
him before. He was dressed in wiiite feathers, and his 
white hair shone like silver. If his appearance was strange, 
his words were unpleasant as w^ell. He told them they must 
stop their dancing or evil would happen to them. Lit lie did 
the children heed and nothing did they say. They were 
intent on their sports, and again and again did the old man 
appear and repeat his warning. They danced on. 

"The mere dances did not afford all the enjoyment the 
children wished, and a little boy, who liked a good d'nner, 
suggested a feast the next time they met. The food must 
come from their parents, of course, and all these were asked 
for this when they returned home. 'You will waste and spoil 
good victuals,' said one. 'You can eat at home as you 
should,' said another. 'I have no tim.e for such nonsense,' 
said a third, and so they got nothing at all. Sorry as they 
were for this, they met and danced as before. A little to 
eat after each dance would have made them happy indeed. 
Empty stomachs bring no joy. 

"One day, as they danced, they found themselves rising 
little by little into the air, their heads being light through 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 109 

hunger. How this came about they did not know, but one 
said, 'Do not look back for something strange is taking 
place.' A woman, too, saw them rise and called them back, 
but with no effect. They still rose slowly from the eaith. 
She ran to the camp, and all rushed out with food of every 
kind, calling piteously after them. The children would not — 
indeed could not return. One did merely look back and he 
became a falling star. The others reached the sky, and are 
now what we call the Pleiades, and the Onondagas Oot- 
kwa-tah. Every falling or shooting star recalls the story to 
them, but the seven stars shine on continuously, a merry 
band of dancing children." 

One story is much like this. Another tells of a band "of 
eleven young men and boys, the oldest of whom was chosen 
the chief. They were training for battles which the future 
would bring, and requested the parents to furnish them food 
to eat during their period of training. The request was re- 
fused several times. The chief kept up their spirits by sing- 
ing and beating the water drum, whose ringing rhythm 
charmed their feet to the war dance. Their spirits were 
high when they finished their dance, and they again im- 
plored their several parents for food. The chief was angry 
when it was refused, and grasping the wet drum again said : 
'We will dance ourselves away from earth, and leave it for- 
ever.' He sang the Ji-ha-ya (the witch) song, and roused 
the dancers to high enthusiasm, bade them dance and look 
upward, and listen to no plea that might be wailed up 
through the trees. Thus they danced up to the sky, all un- 
heeding of the cries of terror and distress from below, save 
one who looked down and fell." 

Another ends better. Another band was enticed by the 
sky witches from the earth, and went dancing through the 
sky. The Sun saw them but could give no help. "The pity- 
ing Moon, hoping to quiet the restless dancers, led them to 
her procession of stars, marching across the sky. Their 
dancing set the stars whirling and alarm.ed the Moon, which 
transformed them into a group of fixed stars, giving them 
the charge of the red man's New^ Year. Forever musf. they 
dance over the council house during the New Year's feast." 
Hai-no-nis, their leader, promised the sky witches that his 
brothers, if unmolested, would forever dance in their honor 
also. 



11© IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

SERPENT STORIES 

Serpent stories are common, some being connected with 
the Thunder gods, but some are of a more individual char- 
acter. I have related one which is purely Onondaga, and 
those of the Hiawatha tradition appear nowhere else. The 
most famous of all belongs to Canandaigua lake and is told 
in many ways. The story belonging to Buffalo Creek and 
Niagara Falls ranks next, but Heno, the Thunderer, is prom- 
inent in this. Some, once famous, are now only Imown by 
name, and there are mere superstitions as ¥/ell. I may 
premise that nature stories are reserved for winter use, 
except those relating to winter. Historic relations are 
usually kept for summer, but may be told at any time. 
Birds, beasts and fishes are very much alive in summer, and 
might hear something they would not like. It is best to be 
careful. 0-si-is-ta is the Onondaga word for snake. 



THE SERPENT AT BARE HILL 

On the east side of Canandaigua lake rises the fine form of 
Bare Hill, so called because in pioneer days it was bare of 
trees, and showed traces of rude defences. In early accounts 
it is usually mentioned as the first home of the Seneca s at 
the head of the lake. It may be added that the Senecas were 
two large bands, each with its own head chief, but consid- 
ered one nation. David Cusick's story follows in his quaint 
style. He supposes it happened about 800 years before 
Columbus came and in the reign of King Atotarho IV. 

"There was a woman and son who resided near the fort, 
which was situated near a nole, which was named Jennea- 
towaka, the original seat of the Te-hoo-nea-nyo-hent (Sene- 
cas,) the boy one day, while amusing in the bush he caught a 
small serpent called Kaistowanea, with two heads, and brings 
it to his apartment ; the serpent was first placed in a small 
dark box to keep tame, which was fed with birds, flesh, etc. 
After ten winters the serpent became considerable large and 
rested on the beams within the hut, and the warrior was 
obliged to hunt deers and bears to feed the monster ; but after 
awhile the serpent was able to maintain itself on various 
game ; it left the hut and resided on the top of a nole ; the ser- 
pent frequently visited the lake, and after thirty years it 



ONONDAGA KiSTCRICAL ASSOCIATION HI 

was prodigious size, which in a short time inspired with an 
evil mind against the people, and in the night the warrior 
experienced the serpent was brooding some mischief, and 
was about to destroy the people of the fort ; when the war- 
rior was acquainted of the danger he was dismayed and 
soon moved to other fort; at daylight the serpent descended 
from, the heights with the most tremendous noise of the 
trees, which were trampled do^\Ti in such a force that the 
trees were uprooted, and the serpent immediately sur- 
rounded the gate; the people were taken improvidentially 
and brought to confusion ; finding themselves circled l)y the 
monstrous serpent, seme of them endeavored to pass out at 
the gate, and others attempted to climb over the serpent, 
but were unable; the people remained in this situation for 
several days; the warriors had made oppositions to dispel 
the monster, but were fruitless, and the people were dis- 
tressed of their confinement, and found no other method 
than to rush out at the gate, but the people vv^ere devoured, 
except a young warrior and sister, which detained, and 
v/ere only left exposed to the monster, and were restrained 
without hope of getting released; at length the w-irrior 
received advice from a dream, and he adorned his arms 
with the hairs of his sister, which he succeeded by shooting 
at the heart, and the serpent was mortally wounded, v;hich 
hastened to retire from the fort and retreated to the lake 
in order to gain relief; the serpent dashed on the face of 
the T^^ater furiously in the time of agony ; at last it vomited 
the substance which it had eaten and then sunk to the deep 
and expired. The people of the fort did not receive any 
assistance from their neighboring forts as the serpent was 
too powerful to be resisted. After the fort was demolished 
the Council fire was removed to other fort called Than-gwe- 
took, which was situated west of now Geneva Lake." 

At Onondaga I had Captain George's story of this. 

In Mary Jemison's Life (6th ed. p. 135) is another form, 
as follows : — 

"The tradition of the Seneca Indians, in regard to their 
origin, is that they broke out of the earth from a large 
mountain at the head of Canandaig^aa Lake; and that 
mountain they still venerate as the place of their birth. 
Thence they derive their nam.e 'Ge-nun-de-vrah,' or 'Great 



112 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Hill/ and are called 'The Great Hill People,' which is the 
true definition of the word Seneca. 

"The great hill at the head of Canandaigua Lake, from 
whence they sprung, is called Genundewah, and has for a 
long time past been the place where the Indians of that 
nation have met in council, to hold great talks, and to offer 
up prayers to the Great Spirit, on account of its having 
been their birthplace; and, also, in consequence of the de- 
struction of a serpent at that place in ancient times, in a 
most miraculous manner, which threatened the destruction 
of the whole of the Senecas, and barely spared enough to 
commence replenishing the earth. 

'The Indians say that the fort on the big hill, or Genunde- 
wah, near the head of Canandaigua Lake, was surrounded 
by a monstrous serpent, whose head and tail came together 
at the gate. A long time it lay there, confounding the peo- 
ple with its breath. At length they attempted to make their 
escape, some with their hominy blocks, and others with 
different implements of household furniture; and in march- 
ing out of the fort walked down the throat of the sei-pent. 
Two orphan children, who had escaped this general de- 
struction by being left on this side of the fort, were in- 
formed, by an oracle, of the means by which they would be 
rid of their formidable enemy — which was to take a small 
bow and a poisoned arrow, made of a kind of willow, and 
with that shoot the serpent under its scales. This they did 
and the arrow proved effectual; for on its penetrating the 
skin, the serpent became sick, and, extending itself, rolled 
down the hill, destroying all the timber that was in its way. 
... At every motion a human head was discharged, and 
rolled down the hill into the lake, where they lie at this day 
in a petrified state, having the hardness and appearance of 
stones; and the Pagan Indians of the Senecas still believe 
that all the little snakes were made of the blood of the great 
serpent, after it rolled into the lake." 

The Senecas are the Great Hill People, but this is not the 
meaning of the word Seneca, their Algonquin name. 

Capt. Samuel George used to tell this story in the later 
form, at the Onondaga reservation. It varied but little. 
Mrs. Converse says that the boy became a great warrior, 
named Ha-ja-noh. In her version, as in the earliest, the 
serpent is double-headed. There are many variants. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 113 

OTHER SERPENTS 

Mrs. Lucy Pierce, a Cayuga, living on the Onondaga 
reservation, gave nie this story in 1897. 

Mary Jemison, the White Woman, sat with her children 
by her cabin near the Genesee river. There were several 
of these present, for she had a large family. From a hill 
nearby there came a curious sound, "turn tum, tum tum." 
It was quite loud and they knew not what it meant. It 
grew louder, and through an opening in the hillside there 
appeared the head of a great snake. On its head was a 
large horn. After a while it disappeared, but came again 
next day and gradually became quite tame. 

One day she pierced the horn with an awl and caught the 
blood in a cup, giving it to her children to drink. For this 
reason they became bad — some very bad — and none were 
bright. At last the Thunder came rapidly up the valley, 
finding the snake away from home. It found no refuge 
from its foe and was killed. Then the hill where ;t had 
lived fell in, leaving a great hollow where its top had been. 
The Indians called it Jah-nund-hak, Where the Top Has 
Fallen In. 

Mr. A. C. Parker published some general notes on ser- 
pents. He said : 'The serpent is one of the 0-sais-to-vva-ne 
of the Senecas, or 0-nia-hai-ka-ko-wa of the Mohawks. 
[0-si-is-ta in Onondaga, in which W^a-ne and Ko-wa both 
mean great or big. — W. M. B.] These creatures are di- 
vided into two tribes, the On-gwi-ias and the Jo-di-kwa-do. 
Both are 'underwater' people, but the On-gwi-ias are evil, 
men devouring creatures, while the Jo-di-kwa-do are not 
necessarily malicious, for they sometimes help the dis- 
tressed who may be lost on lone islands, or those cast 
treacherously into the water to drowTi. Both tribes, how- 
ever, are great sorcerers, and therefore hated by He-no, 
who pursues them whenever they appear in daylight above 
the water. There are several tales, telling how the under- 
water people coaxed boys and girls away from the land, 
and cast upon them the spell by which they were adopted. 
They are human in form, but assume the form of horned 
serpents by dressing in snake-skin garments. They have 
houses beneath the waters, and there appear as ordinary 
men. Their daughters are especially beautiful, and cap- 



114 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

tured landsmen at once become enamored with them, and 
are quite willmg to don the shining suits (snake skins) and 
big feathers (horns) which make them forever Jc-di- 
kwa-do." 

These notes follow a story by Mrs. Converse, in which 
Heno, a boy and a serpent are the actors. The latter is one 
of the under water people. Her story may be reminiscent 
of the great Lake Serpent which troubled the people about 
1300 years before Columbus, according to David Cusick, 
and 200 years later was compelled to go "into the deep. 
After the banishment of the monster of the deep" a human- 
headed snake made trouble for them on the land. "The 
lake serpent was often seen by the people, but the thunder 
bolt destroyed the serpents or compelled them to retire into 
the deep." It is of this quieter time that Mrs, Converse's 
story tells, but in fuller form than this. 



GUN-NO-DO-YAH, THE THUNDER BOY, AND THE 
LAKE SERPENT 

He-no sent a rain which flooded the land and deepened 
the lakes. This caused trouble and he sent Ha-de-ne-no- 
da-on, his helper, to relieve the earth. As he passed over a 
Seneca town — what was left of it — he heard a ciy of dis- 
tress from a small child, floating in the flood which had 
drowned its parents. It was Gun-no-do-yah, the son of a 
chief whom he knew. He bore it to his home, laid it on a 
strong black cloud, and returned to his mission. He-no had 
been drilling his Thunderers, and finding the child in his 
house, adopted him as a Thunder Hunter. Because he was 
human he could help much in that way. 

In a lake dwelt a monster, as yet invulnerable. He de- 
fied the Thunderers — who were not of the earth — destroyed 
fish and drove off fishers. The child could follow the earthly 
trails. He-no would give him power, a strong bow and 
arrow. He should follov^^ the stoiTns, and find and destroy 
this monster. 

The child was grateful and followed the black clouds to 
the lakes. He searched all till he came to Lake Ontario. 
There he hoped for success, and when the clouds came again 
he watched and saw the monster. He raised his bovv' but 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 116 

missed his mark. Again and again he saw it, with the same 
luck. 

At last, in a terrible storm, he went into the lake, met the 
snake and drew his bow. The serpent spoke and told him 
to come near. He feared neither him nor He-no, he said, 
but if he would come to his home, dress his long mane, etc., 
he would teach him all the secrets of the water world. The 
youth drew his bow, and it snapped; the arrow fell, the 
snake opened his mouth and the boy was swallowed. He-no 
was sleeping at the time, but in a dream Gun-no-do-yah told 
his misfortunes. He-no sent aid at once. The snake was 
found in a water cave, caught, and borne to He-no, who slew 
it and drew forth the boy alive. He became a Thunderer 
also. It is added: "Lake Ontario is noted for its violent 
winds, and when they drive the canoe high on the waves, 
the Indians know that the spirit of the snake is there 'twist- 
ing the water' in its revenge, and when the lightning darts 
across the sky, they whisper in awe, 'Gun-no-do-yah is 
chasing it.' " 



HE-NO AND THE SERPENT 

I summarize Morgan's account from the League of the 
Iroquois. To He-no was committed the thunder-bolt, and 
also the bringing of clouds and rain. He was the terror of 
witches and all other evil things. He had the appearance 
of a warrior, and a magic feather on his head made him 
invulnerable. A basket on his back was filled with flint 
stones, which were hurled at demons, witches and monsters 
as he rode in the clouds. In the spring he was asked to 
water the seeds ; in the harvest festival he was thanked for 
the gift of rain. He has three assistants, one being of both 
celestial and human origin. He bears the title of Grand- 
father and in the following legend has a home under Niag- 
ara Falls. I may add that in most stories he has more as- 
sistants, and that, when summer is past, he seeks some 
favorite winter resort. The Niagara legend briefly follows : 

"A maiden lived at Ga-u-gwa, a village at the mouth of 
Cayuga creek, a few miles above the falls. She was to 
marry an ugly old man whom she much disliked. There 
being no escape she sought death. Her canoe swiftly bore 
her to the falls and over the edge. He-no and his helpers 



116 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

saw her plight, snatched her from death and bore her to his 
home. She became the bride of one of his assistants, but 
He-no sent her home to help her people. 

An annual pestilence was caused by a great serpent, 
dwelling near their village, who ate the bodies of the dead. 
To obtain more he poisoned the water and caused sickness. 
They must move further south to Buffalo creek. This they 
did, but the serpent noted their action and started in pur- 
suit. He-no also had His eyes open, sent a flash of lightning 
after him and he was slain before he could reach the deep 
waters of the lake. His body at last floated down the river, 
lodged at the falls, and formed the Horse-shoe fall. 

The girl had a son who had the power of darting light- 
ning. He-no directed that he should not mingle in the 
strifes of men, but one day he killed a playmate with a 
thunder-bolt. He-no took him to the clouds, and made him 
an assistant. All went west. 

So says Morgan, but he died before He-no's return to the 
Falls, in our ovm. day, and before he gained new strength to 
send electric power and light to wonderful distances and 
without bringing clouds into the sky. 

Many years ago I met Odjidjotekha (Brant-Sero) in Can- 
ada, and afterward at Onondaga, N. Y. Among his contri- 
butions to Mohawk folk lore I find one headed Thunder and 
Lightning. He said, "The Mohawks believe that thunder is 
caused by seven men, who are up in the sky. Formerly 
there were only six of them ; but once upon a time an Indian 
got up there, and since then has prevented them from harm- 
ing Indians. Thus it is that no Indian is ever struck by 
lightning. When it thunders and lightens very much, the 
Indians exclaim, "Say, old man, enough of that.' " 

There is another Mohawk stor>^ which I partially give 
from Hewitt. 



THE MOHAWK STORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THUNDER 

WTien Oterontonnia was traveling to inspect the things he 
had made, he met a man and asked him what he was doing. 
The other replied that it seemed needful for him to come 
and see him.. He thought so, too, and the man asked to be 



ONONDAGA EISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 117 

allowed to live on. With his consent he would aid him and 
watch over men. He would give them strength and defend 
them w^hen they were made. So Oterontonnia said, "Show 
me thy pov/er." Then Hi-non, or the Thunder, went oft on 
a run, and up into the clouds. Then great rumblings were 
heard in the clouds, and lightning repeatedly shot forth. 
The sounds and flashes were continuous. Then Hinon came 
down and said, "Now you see what I can do." 

He replied, "Indeed thou are able to do all thou hast said, 
but can you continually water the earth in the hot summer 
days?" He said, "I can." Oterontonnia replied, "Be it so." 
Then Hinon went out again into the clouds. It thundered 
again ; the lightning flashed and the clouds became thick and 
black. They then came from the sea, over the dry land, 
raining as they came. It vras wonderful. Then the rain 
passed away. 

Hinon came to Oterontonnia as he moved about. The 
latter said, "What thou doest is good, and thus it shall be." 
Then he told what he must do, concluding thus : "This is 
the duty with which thou art charged. Men will continue to 
call thee: He is my grandfather, whose voice goes sounding 
about." Then they parted. 

At Onondaga, thunder, merely as such, is Ka-wen-non- 
tone-te, or Voices we hear. As divinities, the Thunders are 
A-ke-so-tah, They are our Grandfathers. Also Hah-te-wen- 
non-to-teys, Our Grandfathers of the roaring or continuous 
voices. In times of drought native tobacco is buiT.ed for 
them, and especially when the thunder heads rise, that they 
may be induced to come that way. Lightning is of minor 
importance. It has no voice and is but the weapon of the 
one who speaks. The ordinary word for grandfather is not 
used for the Thunders. 



HINUN DESTROYING THE GIANT ANIMALS. 

The name of the great Thunderer varies with the col- 
lectors of Seneca stories, and I use it here for Mrs. E. A. 
Smith's tales, one of which follows in a condensed form. In 
a thunder storm a hunter once heard a voice calling him to 
follow. This he did till he was in the clouds, far above the 
trees, and v/as surrounded by what seemed men. Their 



118 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

chief told him to look on a pond below and say if he saw a 
huge water serpent. When he could not the chief anointed 
his eyes, and then he saw it in the depths below. One of the 
band was told to kill this foe of man, but failed. The hunter 
was told to do it. He drew his bow and killed the foe. The 
storm ceased and he was taken back to the spot from whence 
he came. Then men first learned that the Thunderers were 
their friends and protectors. 



THE THUNDERER 



Mrs. Smith had this story from Dr. Horatio Hale, in 1881, 
to whom it was given by an Indian chief. As given by her 
it is an almost literal transcript of most of his tale published 
in the journals of American Folk-Lore, 1891. I shorten the 
story. 

Three warriors went on the southern war path and one 
broke his leg when far from home. They made a litter and 
carried him awhile, but were very tired when they came to 
a mountain ridge. Resting him on the ground the two went 
aside and formed an evil plan. A little way off was a deep 
hole in the rocks, into which they cast their helpless friend 
and made off, reporting that he had died of his wounds, 
when they reached home. Great was his mother's grief, but 
they said they had carefully tended him and that he had 
decent burial. 

For a while the deserted man lay insensible at the bottom 
of the pit. Then he saw a gray-haired man crouching by his 
side. "My son," said he, what have your friends done to 
you?" "Thrown me here to die, I suppose," he replied. 
"You shall not die," said the old man, "if you w^ill do what I 
wish." It was only that he should hunt for him and bring 
in the game as soon as he was able. By wise care he was 
soon restored. This was in autumn, and all through the 
winter he brought in game, the old man offering to help 
when it was too heavy. 

Spring came with thaws and frequent showers, and hunt- 
ing was harder. One day the hunter killed a great bear, and 
while he stooped to judge of its weight and fatness he heard 
voices behind him. He turned and saw three mean in cloud- 
like garments, standing near. They told him they were the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION HQ 

Thunderers, whose work it was to keep the earth in good 
order for mankind. They brought rain and destroyed 
noxious creatures. They must destroy the old man, who was 
not what he seemed to be, and they needed 'his aid. He 
would do good in helping them, and they would restore him 
to his m.other and friends. To this he agreed. 

He went to the old man and said he needed help to bring 
the bear home. The old man was uneasy, and told the 
hunter to look carefully at the sky and say if the smallest 
cloud was visible. He reported a perfectly clear sky and the 
old man went with him. They hurried to the bear and 
quickly cut it up. The old man took it all on his shoulders, 
surprising the young man by his strength. Just as he 
started back a cloud appeared and distant thunder was 
heard. The old man threw down his load and ran, and the 
thunder was louder and nearer. Then he became a great 
porcupine, flying through the bushes, discharging its quills 
backward as it ran. The Thunders followed, peal on peal, 
and at last a bolt struck the huge animal, which fell lifeless 
into its den. 

Then the Thunderers said, "Now that our work is done 
we will 'take you to your home and mourning mother." 
They gave him a dress like their own, with wings on its 
shoulders, which they showed him how to use. He rose with 
them in the air and was soon at his mother's door. It was 
night, and when he stood in the door, flooded with moon- 
light, she thought him a ghose. He told her not to fear. 
He was alive and would care for her. He stayed with her 
till the next spring. 

When the Thunderers left him they gave him his cloud 
dress, and said that eveiy spring he might go with them and 
see their good deeds. So, when they returaed in the spring, 
he put on the robe and floated with them in the clouds. As 
they went over a mountain he was thirsty and went down 
to a pool to drink. When he returned the others saw that 
his lips shone like oil, and asked where he had been drink- 
ing. "In yonder pool," he said, and pointed to it. They 
said, "There is something in it which we have long sought 
and must destroy. We are glad you have found it." They 
cast a great thunderbolt into it and it became dry. At the 
bottom a great gi^ub lay dead, and this had long destroyed 



120 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

the crops. After going farther and seeing more, the youth 
returned and told his people how great and good the Thun- 
derers were. 



THE BOY AND SKELETON 

In the nature of things intercourse with others brings 
European features into Indian stories. This is the case 
with many of those which Mrs. Smith collected and I have 
had the same luck. This one combines early and recent fea- 
tures and is a good sample of this class. 

An old man and his nephew lived in the dark v/oods. 
When the man went hunting he told the boy not to go east- 
ward, but he tired of playing alone in one place and one 
day went that way and came to a large lake. While playing 
there a man came along and asked whence he came. He 
told him and the man said, "Let us shoot arrows in the 
air." They shot and the boj^'s arrow went highest. Then 
the man said, "Let us see which can swim farthest without 
breathing." The boy beat the man. Then he said, "Let us 
go to the island and see the pretty birds." They went in a 
canoe drawn by three swans on each side. As soon as they 
were seated the man began singing, and they soon reached 
the island. They walked there awhile. Then the man took 
the boy's clothes, jumped into the boat and said to the 
swans, "Let us go home." He began to sing and went off. 
The deserted boy sat doAvn and cried, for he v/as naked and 
cold. 

It grew dark very fast, and he was frightened when he 
heard a voice say, "Hush ! Keep still !" Looking around he 
saw a skeleton on the ground, beckoning to him and saying : 
"Poor boy ! it was the same with me ; but I will help you if 
you will help me." Of course he would. He was told to 
dig on the west side of a tree near by, find a well filled to- 
bacco pouch, pipe and flint, and bring them to him. He did 
so, and was told to fill and light the pipe and put it in the 
skeleton's mouth. As he smoked the mice in his body went 
away, and the skeleton felt better. He said that a man with 
three dogs vs-ould come to the island that night to kiil the 
boy. To escape he must run all over the island many times, 
jumping into the water often, so that the man vvould lose 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 121 

the trail. Then he must stay all night in a hollow tree. He 
did so. 

Before daylight the' man came with three dogs and told 
them to catch the boy. They ran every way without finding 
him, and the angry man killed one dog and ate him. With 
the others he went away. The boy came out of the tree 
and went to the skeleton, who said, ''Are you still alive? 
The man who brought you here will come tonight to di'ink 
your blood. Go to the shore where he lands ; dig a pit and 
lie down in it, covering yourself with sand. When he lands 
and is off, get into the canoe and say, 'Come, swans, let's go 
home.' If the man calls, do not turn or look at him." 

The boy promised and the man came. The boy jumped 
into the canoe and spoke to the swans. As they went he 
sang. The man saw them and called them back, but all 
went on. They came to a great rock in which was a hole, 
and the swans went in, till they reached a door which the 
boy opened. There were his clothes and those of others, a 
fire and food, but no one in sight. He dressed and went to 
sleep, and in the morning there were fire and food as before. 
The swans were waiting and he got in the canoe. He gave 
the word and they were soon at the island. The man was 
there, almost devoured. Then the skeleton said : "You are 
very smart ; now you must find your sister, whom this man 
carried off long ago. Start to-night and go east. You will 
soon come to very high rocks where she goes for water. 
You will find her there and she will tell you what to do." 

In three days he reached the rocks and- found her. He 
asked her to go home with him, but she said she could not: 
a bad nlan kept her there, and he v/ould be killed if found 
by him. He could not go without her and she hid him. The 
bad man had gone to a swamp, where women and children 
were picking cranberries. She went to the house, took up 
boards under her bed, dug a large pit for her brother and 
led him there. He trod in her footsteps and touched nothing 
on the way. When he was fixed she made her bed over the 
place, and then cooked a little boy for the man, placed v/ood 
and water by his bed and lay doAvn on her o^vn. 

The m.an and dogs returned, and the dogs tore around as 
if mad. The man said, "Surely you have visitors;" but she 
said. "None but you." He said, "I know better." Then he 



122 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

took a stick and threatened to kill her unless she told the 
truth. She said, "Kill me if you like, but no one is here." 
He sat dowai on his bed to eat his supper, saying to himself, 
"She has hid some one. I will kill him in the morning." He 
told her to build a fire, but she replied, "You have wood; 
build your own fire." He said, "Take off my moccasins." 
She answered, "I am tired; take them off yourself." Then 
he thought, "I know she has seen some one. She was never 
so saucy before." 

Next morning he started for the swamp to get some chil- 
dren for dinner, but instead hid himself, to watch the girl. 
She called her brother and said, "Come, let us take his canoe 
at once." They sailed off, but the man ran and threw a 
hook after them. It caught the canoe, but as he drew it 
shoreward the boy took a stone lying in the canoe, and broke 
the hook. They went off very fast. Then the man lay down 
and drank the water, and this drew the boat back. The 
man grew very large with this water. The boy threw an- 
other stone. It hit him and the water ran back into the 
lake. When they saw he was dead they went back, and the 
boy said to the two dogs: "You bad dogs; no one wants 
you. Go into the woods and become wolves." This they did, 
and the boy and his sister went to the island to find the 
skeleton. 

It said to the boy, "You have done well ; bring your sister 
to me." He did so. The skeleton said, "Gather up all the 
bones you see and put them in a pile ; then push the largest 
tree you find, and cry, 'All dead folks arise!' and all will 
arise." He did so, and all arose, some with one arm or leg, 
but all with bows and arrows. 

The boy said to his sister, "Let's go home." There they 
found their uncle, looking very old. For ten years he had 
cried and put ashes on his head for his little nephew, but 
his return made him happy. He told him all he had done, 
and the uncle said, "Let us build a long house with six fire- 
places." They did so, and the boy went to the island for 
the people and brought them to this peaceful home. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 123 

BOY AND CHESTNUTS 

This and "The Boy and Com," in Mrs. Smith's collection, 
have other European features, but I condense the first. 

A man and his younger brother lived alone in the wilder- 
ness, where game was plentiful. The elder brother hunted ; 
the younger kept house, gathered wood and made a fire 
against his brother's return. When he brought a deer the 
boy said he would cook it. The other said he would smoke 
before eating. Then he lay dowoi. The younger said, "I 
should think you would want to eat now." But he slept on, 
and when he woke he told his brother to go to bed. He was 
surprised, but this happened daily. At morn the hunter left 
without eating ; at night he was left alone. 

The younger determined to watch and see what it meant. 
He must eat or he would surely die, and at night must be 
the time. So he watched. His brother rose, opened a trap- 
door, made strange motions below this, drew out a kettle and 
scraped its bottom. Then he poured water on it, striking it 
with a whip, saying, as he placed it over the fire, "Now my 
kettle will grow larger." At every stroke it did so, and at 
last was very large. Then he took it off to cool and ate 
greedily. His brother went to sleep. Next day he would 
know all about it. 

The hunter went off at dawn. The boy raised the door 
and saw the kettle. In it lay half a chestnut— nothing more. 
He now knew what his brother liked and would have it 
ready when he returned. Toward night he took out the 
kettle, and did just as his brother had done. It grew larger, 
but he had not learned how to stop its growth. It filled the 
room and he had to get on the roof and stir from outside. 

The elder brother cam.e back and said, "What are you 
doing?" The boy replied, "I found the kettle and was get- 
ting your supper." "Alas!" said the other, "I must now 
die." At each blow he gave the kettle was smaller and at 
last went into the hole. Next day the hunter would not get 
up or eat, but asked for his pipe and smoked. Eveiy day 
he grew weaker, and after each smoke he sang, "Hahgeh-he 
geh Nonta ge je o dah. Bring me my pipe and let me die!' 

His anxious brother asked where he got the chestnuts. 
He wished to seek them. His brother replied that far away 



124 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

there was a great and impassable river. Far beyond it was 
a great house, near which was a chestnut tree, where his 
ancestors gathered nuts long ago. No one could now reach 
it, for a white heron guarded it night and day. Six women 
placed him there and cared for him, and he watched for 
them. If he heard a sound he made his Thr-hr-hr, and 
the women came out with clubs. They were always on 
guard, for many chestnuts fell to the ground. Even a 
mouse was suspected of being a man. There was no chance 
of success. The boy said he must try. He could not see his 
brother die. 

He made a little canoe, three inches long, and started. 
After many days he reached the great river. He took his 
little canoe and stretched it till it was large. Thus he 
crossed the stream. Then he made it small and put it in his 
pouch, walking long before he saw the house and the chest- 
nut tree. He called a mole out of the ground, and it sniffed 
round a plant whose seeds the heron dearly loved. It is like 
a bean. Some of these the boy took and crept thro' the 
mole's hole till near the heron. Then he threw them to the 
bird. While he ate them, off guard, the boy filled his bag 
with nuts and started back. The heron gave the alarm, but 
the boy was near the river and quickly in his canoe. The 
women rushed after him. They threw a fish line and caught 
the boat, but he cut it. They threw another and each one 
was cut. 

At last he reached home, finding his brother barely alive, 
and called out, "Now I have brought your chestnuts, will you 
have your pipe?" He cooked them to his taste, and told his 
story. His brother said, "You have done me a great favor ; 
now I shall be well, and we will be happy." 

I wonder if the boy had any of the chestnuts. 



GREAT HEAD 



One of Mrs. E. A. Smith's stories has the above title, and 
it is of rather unusual character. I would call it a story of 
the Flying Heads, of whom so little has been written. It 
commences with a statement that the Indians believed in a 
strange human-like creature, having only a head, with large 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 125 

eyes and long hair. In this case his home was on a huge 
projecting rock, over which his shaggy hair streamed down. 
Seen or unseen, if he saw anji^hing living he growled "I see 
thee ! I see thee ; thou shalt die !" 

Far away lived a man, his wife and ten sons. The par-- 
ents died, and the boys lived with their uncle. The older 
brothers hunted but two of them did not return. The next 
oldest went to find them but came not back. At last only the, 
youngest remained and his uncle kept him close by his side. 
One day the two were in the woods and the boy heard a 
groan, as though coming out of the ground. Hearing it 
again they dug in the earth and found a man covered with 
mould. He seemed alive, and the uncle sent the boy for 
bear's oil. They rubbed him with this and he soon revived. 
For a time they fed him on oil till he could see and talk. 

He could not tell them how long he had been there, but 
the last time he went out was to hunt. They persuaded him 
to stay with them, and he told them the story of the nine 
missing brothers. Then they saw he was something super- 
natural, for he told them strange tilings. One night he said 
he could not sleep, because of a great noise. He knew what 
it was. It Tvas his brother. Great Head, howling. He was 
an awful being, destroying all who came near. He was his 
own brother, too, and he might entice him to come there, but 
to do this they must cut great maple blocks, for he fed on 
these. 

The stranger asked how far it was to his home, and the 
uncle said he could get there by noon ; so early next moraing 
they started. He pulled up a hickory tree to make arrows, 
and then ran on to the place. He had been told to look out 
for the great eyes, as sure to see him. So he said to a mole, 
"I am going this way. Creep down under the grass where 
you win not be seen." He went into the mole and soon saw 
the Great Head through the grass. It cried out, "I see you." 
The man in the mole saw it was watching an owl. He drew 
his bow and shot an arrow at the Great Head, crjing, "I 
came after you." As it went to the mark the arrow became 
very large, but as it came back was small again. The man 
seized it and ran swiftly home. 

He had not gone far when he heard a noise like the com- 
ino- of a storm. It was the Great Head riding on a tempest. 



126 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

He ran on till the Head came near, when he shot again. The 
arrow grew large and returned small, and this happened 
several times, but each time the Great Head was stopped, 
then came nearer and at last burst through the door. The 
uncle had made mallets, and he and the man pounded the 
Great Head with them. He laughed, so pleased was he to 
see his brother. It became quiet and he was asked to re- 
main and eat the maple blocks. They told him about the lost 
brothers, and he said a witch had got hold of them. She 
sang all the time. 

Then the Great Head said, "I have been here long enough ; 
I must go home. This boy is bright. I will show him the 
witch and the bones of his brothers." Next day they started 
and went till they heard her song. The Great Head said, "I 
will ask, How long have you been here? The hair will fall 
from my head and you must replace it. It will grow fast, 
and then I will bite her flesh and pull it from her. You must 
take it from my mouth and throw it off, saying, 'Be a fox, a 
bird, or anything else,' and it will run off never to return." 

So it was. When the witch begged for mercy the Great 
Head said, "You had none ; you must die." So she died and 
her flesh became creatures of many kinds. What was left 
they burned. 

The Great Head said : "Let us find the year old bones and 
place them in rows." They did so. Then Great Head said, 
"I am going home to the great mountain. When I fly over 
here on a tempest, say to these bones, 'All arise,' and they 
will arise, and you can go home with them. The storm 
came, the Great Head called to the nine brothers, and they 
all arose, shouting for joy. 



LOCAL STORIES 



Onondaga lake has its traditions of the formative council 
and the departure of Hiawatha. The Eat-all feast at the 
departure of the French colony was one of the old features 
of Iroquois life, and the crossing of the lake in spite of 
Atotarho's magic has been mentioned. The Peace Queen 
came there then and there are stories about her. At Cross 
lake Mr. Clark placed Hiawatha's home, and just above came 
the encounter with the Great Mosquitoes. Below the lake. 



ONOI*TDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 127 

near Jack's Reefs, an Onondaga chief led two Moravians, 
June 15, 1753, "to a place near the river where there were 
two stones which, he said, had once been an Indian who had 
been petrified, and these were his head and body. They 
offered sacrifices to him so that they might catch much fish, 
and we found tobacco there that they had sacrificed." 

An incident of this kind was mentioned in 1656, when 
Father Chaumonot was on the trail between Onondaga and 
the Seneca country. "He had on the road a fine occasion to 
mock at the superstition of the infidels, his guide having 
presented to him a bit of wood to throw upon two round 
stones, which were encountered in the road, surrounded by 
marks of the superstition of these poor people, who throw, 
in passing, a little rod on these stones in the way of homage, 
and adding these v/ords: Koue askennon ekatongot; that is 
to say, Hold ; behold this is to pay my passage, in order that 
I may go on safely. Stones were thus frequently thrown on 
notable graves or other important monuments. The two 
round stones probably marked a boundary line. 



GREEN POND 



Mr. Clark, in his history, gives briefly a story of Green 
Pond, west of Jamesville, first vividly describing the pond, 
(ii.237) and adding that "With this singular locality is con- 
nected an Indian tradition which gave rise to its aboriginal 
name, which is still preserved among the Onondagas. The 
Indian path, leading from Oneida to Onondaga, passed in 
former times along the bank of this pond. Here an Indian 
woman lost her child in a marvelous manner, and in order 
to have it restored to her again, made application to the 
'Prophet' for advice. He told her the wicked spirit had 
taken her child from her, but if she would obey his injunc- 
tions, the Great Spirit would take charge of her child, and 
it would be safe although it could not be restored. In the 
autumn of every year the woman and her husband, and 
after them their children, were required to cast a quantity 
of tobacco into the pond, as an oblation for the spirit's guar- 
dian care. This ofRce w^as religiously performed till after 
the first settlement of the white people at Onondaga, since 
which it has been discontinued. The name given, on account 



128 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

of this circumstance, was Kai-yah-kooh, signifying, satisfied 
with tobacco." 

Mr. Clark enlarged this story aftei*ward, and, as he said, 
the child was lost "in a marvelous manner," according to 
this, yet I got a hint of such a story from Baptist Thomas. 
That the name has no direct reference to tobacco is certain. 
I mentioned the matter to Albert Cusick, and he knew the 
name and meaning as applied to one of the Kirkville Green 
Lakes, also between Onondaga and Oneida. 

Mr. Cusick gave the name of the Jamesville pond as Tue- 
yah-das-so, Hemlock knots in the water, the name, from 
this, of an Indian village farther south. The Kirkville lake 
is called Kai-yahn-koo because those going to or from Onon- 
daga and Oneida stopped there to rest and smoke. On the 
reservation men will sometimes stop at the end of a row, 
when hoeing corn, and say, "How! How! Kai-yen-ko-hah ! 
Come! Come! Let us take a rest." From their smoking 
at this lake, or resting place,, probably came the idea that 
the word meant satisfied with tobacco, as I suppose they 
were. 



THE DROWNING MAN AND OTISCO LAKE 

In the League of the Iroquois Mr. Morgan gave the name 
of Ga-ah-na to Otisco lake : "Rising to the surface and again 
sinking. Legend of a drowning man." I had the story from 
Baptist Thomas, April 25, 1911, and he from his grand- 
mother. He thought she knew all the circumstances. 

An envious woman bewitched a man with a love potion, 
so that he wanted to see her all the time, while she kept 
away from him. In consequence he became thinner and 
weaker every day, and a friend took him to Otisco lake for 
diversion, where the Indians used to trap muskrats along 
the shores. A party was camping on the east shore, and 
they used to visit their traps in dug-out canoes. 

Still the sick man would roam about trying to find the 
woman whom he loved, but he found her not and became 
still thinner. One day he crossed the lake with his friend, 
to look at their traps. The canoe Was old and had a large 
crack in the bottom, into which they pounded strips of slip- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 129 

pery elm bark. This sv/elled and kei3t the water out nicely 
for a time. They went safely across, looked at their traps 
and began their return. Before they reached the middle of 
the lake the bark came out and the water came in. The sick 
man threw the water out as fast as he could, with a gourd 
dipper. He could not paddle, for he was too weak ; neither 
could he bail very fast, and the water gained on them. 

The other paddled with all his might, but could not reach 
the shore, though he made some progress. They had passed 
the middle of the lake before the bark came out entirely, but 
were still far from shore when the canoe went down. Per- 
haps it might have borne them up, but they tried to swim 
ashore, as the stronger man might easily have done. His 
friend sank and he would not leave him. Every time he 
went home he dove under him, bore him to the surface and 
gained a few yards. This he did repeatedly till they were 
quite near the shore. Their friends heard their cries, but 
till then could do nothing, for not a boat w^as near. For the 
last time the swimmer pushed his friend into shallow water. 
The others rushed in and drew both to the shore. The sick 
man was dead and nothing could be done. 

Then they sent his friend to bear the sad tidings to the 
town. When he came over the hog's back, west of the vil- 
lage and on the Otisco trail, he gave the death whoop once 
only, — not three times as for a chief. It was plainly heard 
and the people came to the council house. The story was 
told and the witch gave a loud cry and ran to the lake to see 
the body. All followed. She told what she had done and 
was at once punished as a witch. 

A. Cusick defined Gaahna as the last seen of anything, but 
had not heard this story. Spafford said "Otisco is from 
Ostichney, signifying waters much dried away." Raising 
the lake's surface for a reservoir again overflowed the ex- 
tensive and low flats at the head. 



SACRED WATERS 

The following I find in Onondaga's Centennial, vol. i, p. 
903, and give it for what it may be worth : 

"Tully Lake Park is situated on what was formerly 



130 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

known as Big Lake, which was called by the Indians 'Sacred 
Waters,' and held in great veneration by them. Tradition 
says that the Indians would never allow a fish to be taken 
from its crystal depths nor a canoe to float upon its glassy 
surface, yet they considered an accidental dro\vning therein 
to be a special desire of the Great Spirit.' 

I still think this was invented to help the park, but my 
old friend, Mr. W. W. Newman, in "The Septuagenary of 
the South Onondaga M. E. Society," 1904, gives a story 
somewhat like the above. He said : 

"According to tradition South Onondaga was fonnerly by 
the Lake of the Undefiled Waters, reverently worshipped by 
the aborigines, who dared not pollute its sacred water with 
their birchen canoes, or even bathe in its crystal depths. A 
hostile tribe coming to attack them noticed their ignorance 
of the art of navigation and planned an attack by water. 
Launching their fleet upon its hitherto unruffled waters 
they drew upon themselves the anger of the God of the 
Lake, v/ho lashed the waters into such a furious storm that 
they burst their barriers, and hurled the invading hosts to 
destruction in their mad rush to the valley below, there to 
rest as Lake Onondaga." 

Considering our mutual interest in and many talks about 
the Onondagas, I am surprised that my old friend never told 
me this tale. I will add a less thrilling one of a mixed party 
at the Big Lake in Tully, in 1745. It was a fine June even- 
ing and all were on horseback. Four wore the peculiar 
Moravian garb of that day ; three were in Indian attire. It 
was growing dark and they encamped there. Next morning 
the horses were missing. They were not stampeded, but 
remembered a better pasture they had passed through. 
Some went after them. So it was near noon when they 
started again. Now Bishop Spangenberg was of German 
descent, but knew American ways, so he took out his knife 
and cut his name on a tree while waiting. He did not men- 
tion that, however, because all did the same. That is, all 
the white men. It was a fine morning again, in 1753, and 
two Moravians came out of the woods afoot and with packs 
on their backs. One of them wrote, "We came to a large 
lake which Bro. David remembered to have seen nine 
[eight] years ago, and by this we knew that we were on 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 131 

the right road. He knew the place where Bro. Joseph had 
spent the night with his company, and was much pleased to 
find the names they had cut into the trees," 

Now Brother David Zeisberger was a famous man and 
was at the Tully lake several times. His story is not a 
myth. It is really something better, and Tully people should 
make it part of their history. 



THE GRAVE OF THE INDIAN KING 

Eighty-five years and more ago I used to play on a hillside 
overlooking Skaneateles lake at the village, and in this field 
were some longitudinal elevations and depressions. One of 
these I was told was the grave of a great Indian chief. 
Which one I did not learn exactly because of something 
which happened about that time. 

Col. Wm. L. Stone, author of the life of Brant, wrote this 
story for his "Tales and Sketches," published in 1834. My 
father's old copy I prize highly and from it I briefly sketch 
the tale of "The Grave of the Indian King." 

First of all he tells of the country "beyond the Onondaga 
hills," and especially of the home of my youth, saying : "Of 
all the lesser lakes with which this charming country has 
been rendered thus picturesque and delightful, Skaneateles 
unites the suffrage of the travelled world as the most beau- 
tiful. Its very name, in the language of the proud race who 
once ranged its forests and bounded along its shores with 
the lofty tread of nature's nobility, or darted across its 
bright surface in the light canoe with the swiftness of an 
arrow, signifies the Lake of Beauty." He was mistaken. I 
am sorry, but it means Long Lake. 

He poetically describes the grave and then tells of its oc- 
cupant and of his character and death. Count Frontenac's 
army had landed at Onondaga lake in 1696, and the question 
was what should the Onondagas do. They meant to make a 
stand, but the French strength was so great that the issue 
was more than doubtful. The council met and there was a 
call for Thurensera, Dawn of Day. The wise chief was 
brought in on a litter. He had been brave on the warpath 
and wise in the council, bu<: now his form was feeble and his 



132 .IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

head whitened by the snows of more than a hundred win- 
ters. He asked why he was called to the council, and was 
told. There was silence, and then he spoke. They must 
leave their homes, but Thurensera would stay to show Yon- 
Rondio how an Onondaga chief could die. Afterward they 
were to gather up his bones and bury them in a spot he had 
loved, "by the lake that is beautiful." He went on, "Put 
into my grave my pipe, my hatchet and my bow. . . . Put 
in my canoe that is on the beautiful lake," and much more 
he said. 

The old man was left as he wished and eye-witnesses have 
told of his torture; Col. Stone wrote of this also in "The 
Grave of the Indian King." A traveller of note came along 
and heard of and wanted all the relics for the British Mu- 
seum. The 5?rave was secretly opened one moonlight night. 
"Alas for the veracity of traditional history ! A bed of com- 
pact limestone rock . . . soon taught the Gothic invader of 
the grave that no grave had ever been there!" Surely this 
was a mvth. 



SKANEATELES: A TALE 

Though my old Quaker friend, John Barrow, father of 
several friends of mine, wrote the above named story, pub- 
lished in my father's paper in 1840, I had thought it purely 
a personal production till recently. He said he "gathered 
the narration from a shrivelled, toothless Onondaga squaw, 
that I met in one of my summer rambles in the neighbor- 
hood of the Otisco. The channel through which it came was 
certainly not prepossessing, nevertheless the story has in- 
terest." 

So it had. "In the words of the old crone there lived, a 
century and a half ago, upon the shores of the Blue Water, 
a chief by the name of Skaneateles," from whom, he said, 
the name of the lake came. Of course the well-told story is 
fiction, and I had supposed the old crone on the Otisco hills 
was the same till I found others telling a similar tale. First, 
then, about the stoiy of Skaneateles, the great chief. Again 
I must condense, for the pleasant, humorous story occupied 
a full page of my father's paper and less must suffice now. 
Mr. Barrow said he was given to rambling, but it was a very 
pleasant ramble after all. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 133 

The great chief lived at Mandana, or rather a little south, 
on the site of the pleasant farm-house of some early friends 
of mine. He had half a dozen wives, as many sons and a 
lovely daughter. "In the Onondaga tongue," said Mr. B., 
''she was called Hoky Poky, which, being translated, sig- 
nifies the White Pigeon." I beg:in to have doubts again. An 
Onondaga had but one wife, even though he were a chief. 
No Onondaga could pronounce Hoky Poky. It was not an 
Onondaga word, nor did it mean White Pigeon. Beside all 
this there vv^ere no Six Nations in 1690, there being then no 
Tuscaroras in the colony of New York. It is best to have 
even fiction conform to well known facts, but of course it 
has a broad scope. 

It was early summer when the braves went on the war- 
path. The glory of autumn was on the hills when they re- 
turned. Many a scalp was borne in triumph and a captive 
Algonquin warrior was closely guarded. He had fought 
bravely, they said, and was worthy of the 'honor of being 
tortured at the stake. To that he was doomed by general 
consent. Yet one liked it not. It was the loved and lovely 
daug-hter of Skaneateles. 

She was interested. It really was too bad to have such a 
splendid form mangled and destroyed. She would know 
more of him and relieved for a while the old woman who 
guarded the captive. An interview deepened her interest. 
How they conversed I cann,ot say, knowing only each their 
own language, but all difficulties vanish in folk lore tales, 
and often in novels. They had a pretty good understanding 
before the old woman awoke. 

Next morning the daughter sought her father. "Wyan- 
tonimo is brave," she said. Now she did not say that; she 
could not. I am perfectly Avilling to allow that that was his 
nam.e, but it was beyond the powers of speech to pronounce 
it. There is no more frequent error in American Indian 
folk lore stories than this confusion of dialects. 

However, the old chief had ofie stock argument. "Bad 
people the Algonquins ; they eat frogs and wild garlic." 

I have a faint recollection that the English had some such 
ground for their old time dislike for the French. At an 
interview the next night the maiden mentioned this heinous 



134 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

sin of the Algonquins, and the captive replied that they cer- 
tainly did these horrible things. If she would go with him, 
for her sake he would not. Just as though, — he being an 
American youth — he had said to some fair girl now, "If you 
will marry me I won't smoke." With such a promise made 
the daughter of Skaneateles yielded. She cut his bonds and 
in a moment they were in the bright moonlight outside the 
lodge. 

Here comes in prophetic foresight on the part of a chroni- 
cler of the past. He wrote in 1840 — actually 1839. Our so- 
ciety was organized in 1862. Mr. Barrow had a view to its 
work, and wrote, "As a minute and veracious chronicler, 
and to save doubts and difficulties in case the Onondaga His- 
torical Society should wish to erect a monument to perpetu- 
ate the memory of the White Pigeon, I would point out the 
spot where her foot rested, when she paused to take a last 
look at her native village, sleeping in quiet at the foot of 
the giant elms. Measure off three hundred and seventy 
feet, six inches, east-southeast from the centre of John 
Milton Araold's parlor fireplace, and you can hit it to a 
tittle." 

A fine project if we had the means. As a business propo- 
sition we leave it to the Finger Lakes Association and the 
manager of the Mandana Inn. 

They stopped but a moment and sped to the little cove 
where the canoes lay, sprang into ,one, and the Algonquin 
seized a paddle and used it with all his power. The alarm 
was given, the pursuit began. The chief's arms were numb 
from his bonds and the canoe overladen. Why White Pigeon 
did not take a paddle, too, as might have been expected, I 
cannot say, but, for the catastrophe it was necessary Skane- 
ateles must gain, and gain he drd. He was within arrow's 
shot as he sped along and drew his bow, when a marvelous 
thing occurred. Skaneateles had long been a great fisher- 
man and could tell some big stories. Whether the fish spirits 
resented this, or whether the king of the fishes did so, I can- 
not say. The teller of the story thought it was a trout, a big 
trout, — perhaps the one that always got off the hook — that 
inten-ened for the lovers. He made an upward rush under 
the stern and toppled the old chief into the water. For 
some reason he rose no more. The lovers escaped to the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 133 

eastern shore, and thence through the forest to the Algon- 
quin town. 

By a natural transition the lake was called Skaneateles. 
I know of two other lakes of the same name. As aforesaid 
it means simply Long lake. 

There is quite a temptation to give the whole of this 
quaint tale. Copies are extremely rare. I secured the first 
imprint and afterwards had it reprinted in the Skaneateles 
Democrat, but that is rare also. 

I had a little volume of poems, from the author, published 
in Auburn, 1905, for the late Mrs. Nettie Parrish Martin of 
Auburn but formerly of Mandana, and entitled ''Indian 
Legends of Early Days." She was a grand-daughter of 
Jasper Parrish, the Seneca interpreter, and said: "These 
Indian Legends were given to the writer by her grand- 
mother, who lived near one of the Indian villages of the Six 
Nations, and spoke their language. Jasper Parrish (a 
grandsire) was a missionary and trader among the six 
tribes, and during his sojourn among them he so endeared 
himself to all that they named him Sen-ne-oe-ta-wa, mean- 
ing 'Good Man,' and ever after his descendants had only to 
say that name, and every care and kindness was cheerfully 
given them that the Indians were able to bestow." 



SKANEATELES 

I think this story a partial reminiscence of Mr. Barrow's 
tale, yet I doubt whether she had ever seen it, though her 
grandmother probably had. Skaneateles was a beautiful 
Indian girl, living on the lake of that name, who loved and 
was beloved by an Oneida brave. The father was cruel and 
she could only meet her lover by stealth. Going in her canoe 
by night to do this, she encountered a storai, was struck by 
lightning, and slept in the waters. The warrior learaed of 
this and soon slept in the same quiet bed. Now their spirits 
are seen hand in hand, in storms on the lake. It is told, also, 
that her body was found next morning and was buried near 
the shore. The lake, of course, was called after her. Per- 
sonally, in all storms I have been in on the lake I have not 
seen their spirits. 



136 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

THE LOST ARROW 

Mrs. Maitin's stories are in verse, and one has this prefa- 
tory note : "Ossahinta was a young Indian chief who died 
broken hearted. He was the son of a brave chief, one of the 
Six Nations. His home was on the shores of the Skaneateles 
lake, where a steamboat (the Ossahinta) plies between the 
foot and head for the accommodation of tourists." It has 
now disappeared. I may add that the boat was called after 
Capt. Frost or Ossahinta, who died in 1846 on the Onondaga 
reservation at the reputed age of 86 years. His name m.eans 
the falling frost, and his picture is the frontispiece of 
Clark's Onondaga. 

Mrs. Martin's story is rather fanciful and includes two 
Algonquin names. Os-sa-hin-ta was a good warrior and 
hunter who met and loved On-nei-wee-da, and she loved him 
but proposed a trial : 'Tor he who weds Pow-ha-tan's heir 
must shoot this eaglet from her hair," He went home, 
rather disturbed, but sought Quin-ni-pac, an old medicine 
woman, who prepared her charms. A roaring flame burst 
forth, an eaglet appeared and then a maiden fair. He would 
succeed, and she gave him an arrow of red flint, streaked 
with white, a talisman of future good luck. 

He shot the eaglet, won his bride, and long they pros- 
pered, till one day the arrow was lost and misfortunes came. 
His wife faded away. He sought the old woman and she 
was dead. His wife died and he fell in battle, but now they 
are happy ; "Ossahinta, star of night, Onneiweeda, child of 
light." 

A footnote says the lost arrow bided its time. "Bacon 
Northrup of Mandana, Onondaga Co., found the arrow near 
a spring called- Deer Lick." 



THE ALGONQUIN AND WAN-NUT-HA 

This is different but quite suggestive of Mr. Barrow's 
story of Skaneateles, and is one of Mrs. Converse's tales. 

An Algonquin chief, named Hon-do-sa, was the captive of 
a Seneca sachem whose son he had killed, and he must die 
at the stake. For fifty years the Algonquins had waged a 
terrible offensive war against the Iroquois, and to have a 



; ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCUTION 137 

notable prisoner was a great joy to the latter. The Jesuits 
have told with what courtesy such captives were treated by 
the Hurons before the torture came. Such was the treat- 
ment of Hondosa by the Senecas. He had the best house 
they could find, the softest furs, the choicest food. The 
fairest maiden was to see to his comfort, and Wan-nut-ha, 
the Seneca chief's daughter, was assigned this pleasant task. 
Many days were to pass before the torture, and she saw him 
often. He was brave, she well knew. That he was hand- 
some she could see. That he feared not a cruel death every 
hour showed. She admired and pitied him, and "pity is 
skm to love." 

The hour came and with it the girl. The guard slept, the 
bonds were cut, and hand in hand they sought the shore 
The canoe was ready, the paddles were plied, and across 
Canandaigua lake the Ga-nun-do-wa mountain soared high 
before them. There came the sound of pursuit. "Haste 
Hon-do-sa," she cried as they reached the shore "Flee at 
once to your people. Wa-nut-ha will remain." "You have 
brought the sun to my door too often for Hondosa to leave 
you," he said. "Go with me and I will go. Stay and I ==tay 
also." She climbed the hill with him. They stood on a high 
crag as the pursuers drew near; they leaped and found 
safety m death on the sharp rocks below. I am sorry they 
did not escape, when it was so easy to have them do so. 



THE PEACEMAKER QUEEN 

In 1902 Mr. Wm. W. Canfield published "The Leo-ends of 
the Iioquois," in a nice volume of 211 pages. These are 
mostly ascribed to Cornplanter, tli.e Seneca chief, but a large 
portion IS made up of variants of well known tales No^- all 
however. I think Mr. Canfield was the first to bring to fio-ht 
the one whose title appears above. This and the HeaHng 
Waters have quite recently been published in a slightly c>lf- 
ferent form, and I suppose both had their origin in Mr 
Canfield's book. In a general way I follow his version,' 
which is an expansion of an early tale, that given by Etevid 
Casick. 

Kienwfta, the-p»ace home, was deserted. The ancient fire 
no longer J^rned there. All was cold and desolate. N^ 



138 ' IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

friendly voice welcomed the fug-itive; no persuasive words 
kept peace between hostile warriors who met there and laid 
aside their anger and their arms. The broad paths from 
every direction were untrod By human feet. They were left 
to the woodland animals, and serpents hissed and wolves 
howled where men sought wise counsels in hours of doubt 
and danger. The house of the peace queen was in a ruinous 
state, within and without, for she had abandoned her office 
and there was no one to take her place. Men had come there 
with angry thoughts and no one was found to judge between 
them. Blood had been shed in Kienuka, and the Great Spirit 
no longer smiled upon it. 

When the wise Hiawatha spoke his last words to his 
friends, he told them to choose from their maidens one 
gifted with wisdom, who should be their peacemaker. For 
her they should build a house and in it she should dwell. 
Doors were to be made at each side and end. Broad paths 
were to be made to these, so that all might find a welcome, 
no matter whence they came. More than a welcome, for she 
was to judge equitably between them, turn danger into 
safety, and hatred into love. This was to be her great and 
honorable office. 

i Then all the maidens were brought together at the great 
council place, and to them were subm-itted the questions in 
dispute among their brothers. Whoever decided the most 
of these justly should be the Peacemaker Queen, and dwell 
in the strong house provided. The house was built, the 
queen enthroned. When the Great Spirit called her to 
Eskanane, she was mourned by all, and none entered Kie- 
nuka till her successor had been chosen. 

In this way there came to the peace home Genetaska, the 
Seneca maiden, whose wisdom and kindness were known to 
all, and whose beauty was like those of the summer days. 
She was the most famous of all the Peacemaker Queens, and 
the red men said that Hiawatha's daughter came often from 
the sl^'', borne by the great white bird, and gave her advice 
and guidance. Whoever went to Kienuka disputing, de- 
parted from thence, when they had rested and eaten, with 
no anger in their hearts, for Genetaska soothed them by her 
gentle voice. To the sick and wounded she ministered ^vith 
the best medicinal herbs ; to those inflamed with anger she 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 139 

toid of the Great Spirit which taught them moderation. 
Disputes were so adjusted tliat the hunters and warriors 
who came there with anger and war in their hearts, left her 
doors as brothers. 

One day there came to Kienuka two young chiefs, one 
from the Onondagas, one an Oneida. Each claimed that his 
arrow had slain a mighty buck they had been following in 
the forest. When they had tried their skill with weapons, 
agreeing that the victor should have the slain animal, 
neither had any advantage. Then said the Onondaga: 
"I will fight thee, 0, Oneida chief, and he who survives 
may bear to his village the great buck and the scalp lock of 
his enemy." 

But the Oneida said : "O, Onondaga, thou must remem- 
ber the words that thou hast heard from the old men who 
heard the teachings of Hiawatha, that when two hunters of 
the Five Nations dispute in the forest, they shall not fight, 
but tell their disputes to the Peacemaker. I will go with 
thee to Kienuka." 

When they had eaten and rested there, the hunters were 
told that each of them should take half of the buck to his 
village. "For," said the Peacemaker, ''it is large, and with 
half of it each one hath enough for his wife and little ones." 
"The Oneida is alone in his home," said the chief. "I carry 
the meat to the old men and the women who have no sons. 
The Oneida has seen no maiden he would take to his lodge 
till he beheld Genetaska, the Peace Queen." 

Then said the Onondaga : "The home of the Onondaga is 
desolate since the plague entered its walls. He is a great 
and powerful chief, for he was never overcome in the chase 
or in war. The Peacemaker has made his heart weak. He 
will never be strong again unless she will come to his lodge." 

But Genetaska replied : "Go ye my brothers, and think 
no more of the Peace Queen, who is chosen by all and may 
be the wife of no one. Seek ye other maidens who will 
gladly be your wives." But when they were gone she had 
no more peace, for the Oneida's form was ever before her 
eyes. 

When the autumn came, when its glories tinged the for- 
ests, the Oneida came at sunset, and stood boldly before the 



140 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Peace Queen saying, "The Oneida has built a lodge in the 
summer land, where the Five Nations care not to go. He 
has filled it with robes and supplied it with food, and it 
awaits the Seneca maiden who loves the Oneida. The tribes 
will choose another Peace Queen when thou art gone. Thy 
life will no longer be heavy with the burdens of all who 
come to thee. Wilt thou go?" 

She looked in his face and said, "Genetaska will go." 

They left Kienuka, embarked in his canoe on the river, 
glided swiftly down the stream and were lost to their people 
forever. 

The peace home was left desolate. To its doors two men 
came running in the darkness, full of hatred and rage. No 
one restrained them and they died. 

Had I followed this fine story literally some modern fea- 
tures would have appeared. A later writer has repeated 
these, with some enlargements, under the title of "The Last 
Peacemaker Queen." 



KIENUKA 



Though the Peace Queen appears in the Dekanawida tale 
she was first mentioned by David Cusick as living during 
the reign of "King Atotarho IX, perhaps 3-^ years before 
the Columbus discovered the America." At this time the 
Eries had become a great nation, being an offshoot of the 
Senecas. "A Queen, named Yagowanea, resided at the fort 
Kauhanauka, (said Tuscarora.) She had an influence 
among the people, and extended her authority over twelve 
forts of the country. A treaty of peace was concluded be- 
tween her and the Twakanhah, (Messissaugers) . After a 
time dissensions broke out between the Five Nations and 
the Messissaugers, and soon commenced hostilities ; but the 
war was regulated under her control. The Queen lived out- 
side the fort in a log house, which was called a Peace Rouse. 
She entertained the two parties who were at w»r with each 
other; indeed she was called th^ mother of the Nations. 
Each nation sent her a belt of wampum as a mark of re- 
spect, but when the Five Nations were engaged in the Avar- 
fare she admitted two Canandaigua warriors into her 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 141 

house; and just as they began to smoke the pipe of peace a 
small party of the Messissaugers too came into the house. 
She betrayed her visitors— she advised the Messissaugers to 
kill the warriors, which was soon executed; the Messissau- 
gers soon retired. The Queen was informed that the two 
warriors of Canandaigua had been over the river and killed 
a young prince of the Messissaugers ; this offence was too 
great to pass without condemning the murderers ; the reason 
she gave them up. She immediately went and consulted the 
chieftain of that band." 

War followed. "The Queen sued for peace — the army im- 
mediately ceased from hostilities, and left the Erians entire 
possession of the country." 



JOHNSON'S LEGEND OF KIENUKA 

In 1881, Elias Johnson, a Tuscarora chief, published the 
"Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Six Nations," an in- 
teresting work. His account of Kienuka and the Peace 
Queen naturally resembles that of David Cusick, also a Tus- 
carora, but he adds much to that. 

Regarding places mentioned in his account, he says: 
"The term Kienuka means the stronghold or fort, but the 
original name of the fort is Gau-strau-yea, which means 
bark laid down ; this has a metaphorical meaning, in the 
similitude of a freshly peeled slippery elm bark, the size of 
the fort and laid at the bottom as a flooring, so that if any 
person or persons go in they must be circumspect and act 
according to the laws of the fort, or else they will slip and 
fall dov/n to their own destruction. The citadel of Kienuka 
is situated about four miles eastward of Niagara gorge at 
Lewiston, on a natural escarpment of the ridge of the Tus- 
carora reservation, known at present by the name of the 
Old Saw Mill." 

At the formation of the League the Senecas proposed a 
novel feature. A fort was to be built as a place of refuge 
and placed under charge of a virgin chosen from the Squaw- 
kihows, "a remote branch of the Seneca nation," and or- 
dained as Queen or Peacemaker. She was to live and exe- 
cute her office in the fort, and be called Ga-keah-sav\'-sa. 



142 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

The Senecas and Squawkihows built the fort on a hill, 
bounded on the north by a precipice, 8 or 10 feet high. 
East, west and south they dug a ditch, 4 or 5 feet deep, 
with close set palisades in it. These were 10 or 12 feet 
above ground, enclosing a space of 20 by 50 rods, with the 
Queen's house in the center. Other houses were in two 
rows, with a path leading to her house. The fort reached 
east and west, with gates at each end. The best Squawki- 
how warriors lived there to do all needful things, the Iro- 
quois furnishing arms and supplies. 

No Iroquois nation was to war against another, nor 
against a foreign nation without the Queen's consent. No 
blood was to be shed there, all executions ordered by the 
Queen taking place at some distance outside. None but the 
keepers could enter faster than a walk. There the Queen 
must have meals always ready for fugitives or pursuers. 
These were always safe there. They were brought into her 
house, which had doors at the east and west ends, and a 
curtain in the middle, to separate pursuers and pursued. 
She fed both and then removed the curtain. When well fed 
they could go their own ways in peace, for without her con- 
sent no fugitive could be slain. If killed, the Iroquois would 
demand the slayer from his nation. Refusal brought war. 

The Kahkwahs and Eries were included with the Squaw- 
kihows, being of one language and offshoots of the Senecas. 
"They lived from Lake Ontario along Niagara river, and as 
far west as the present Erie, east to the Genesee river." 
Those a little south of Buffalo were called Kah-kwah-ka, 
those further west, Eries or Cats. The Kah-kwahs chal- 
lenged the Senecas to a ball game and were beaten, with a 
like result in a foot race. In wrestling those defeated were 
to be knocked on the head by the opposite umpire. Defeat 
came again, the vanquished died, their friends were enraged, 
and the Queen's sympathy aroused. Some Seneca spies were 
pursued by their Massasauka foes, both lodging in the peace 
house. The Queen allowed their foes to slay the sleeping 
Senecas. "They were buried southwest from the Queen's 
house, the mound of which was perceptible until a few years 
ago, when it was cultivated." The Squawkihow kept the 
secret awhile, and then asked permission to exterminate the 
Senecas. The Queen consented. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 14| 

The Senecas learned this and eveiy following movement. 
They met in battle and the Eries and Kah-kwahs were 
known no more. 

The Senecas think this queen and her successors held this 
fort for several hundred years, and that these incidents 
may be dated about A. D. 1280. No attempt v/as made to 
revive this place of refuge, but about 1853 the Tonawanda 
Senecas chose a successor to the fabled Queen from their 
owTL number. This was Caroline Parker, sister of Gen. Ely 
S. Parker, and wife of the Tuscarora chief, John Mount- 
pleasant, "who was ordained to the high office of Queen or 
Ge-keah-sau-sa." 

This legend has a slight foundation in the historic Neutral 
Nation of the Huron war, at one time living on both sides 
of Niagara river, and destroyed about 1652 ; the Eries in 
1654. The Seneca story of the overthrow is persistent, but 
does not agree with recorded history. 

The games, as above, with their sanguinary results, were 
described by the old Seneca chief. Gov. Blacksnake, as well 
as the attempted surprise and decisive battle. Both parties 
were sure of success. The Kah-kwah women, marching in 
the rear, had packs of moccasins for the expected Seneca 
captive women and children. The Seneca braves carried 
rolls of peeled bark to bind their captives, but said, "Let us 
not fight too near our villages for fear of the stench f]-om 
our dead foes." The terminal incident was ingenious. The 
vanquished Eries fled down the river and encamped on an 
island. Their Seneca pursuers followed in canoes but were 
outnumbered. On they came, however, rounding a point 
and landing, regaining the stream above by a short portage, 
coming around and landing again. An old stratagem but 
effective. Next morning their foes were gone and have 
never since appeared. 



MISS TRIPPE'S TALES 

I have an interesting series of Seneca tales from Miss 
Myi^a E. Trippe of Salamanca, N. Y., which I procured for 
the State Library. Unfoi-tunately they were destroyed, 
along with the Moravian Journals I sent there at the same 
time. Her stories were Da-ne-da-doh, the man whose house 



144 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

was made of hemlock boughs; Ha-ton-das, the listener; A 
Beautiful Head; The Man-Eater; The Toadstool Eater; The 
Bear Trail; Gan-nos-quah, the human flesh eater; Ges-gar- 
doh, the man who bragged ; Ho-dar-da Se-do-gas, young man 
who greased his feet ; Do-nyo-do-sa-we-oh, young man with 
sore legs ; The Young Man's Revenge ; Two Senecas ; Story 
of Jack Hudson; A Little Story of Elmira; Indian Land 
Pirates; Whispering Oak, and Do-wa-stu-ta, Thrown in 
bear's den. 

Of these Miss Trippe said : "I send you these legends as 
I copied them for myself. I have read similar stories in 
three or four cases, but mine have been told me more in 
detail. They are as they were told. I have added or sub- 
tracted nothing. Da-ne-da-do is written by Rev. Dr. San- 
born, but only about half is in his book. I feel that this 
should be saved in its more complete foiTn. There are other 
stories like The Man-eater,' but I find none enough like this 
to call it the same. In the Iroquois Trail is a version of 
Ges-gar-doh. Ho-dar-da Se-do-gas is a more complete story 
of one given in the Iroquois Trail. But for study I vrould 
have believed these stories had never been heard by any one 
but Indians." 

Miss Trippe hoped to publish some or all of the above. 
She afterv\'ard married and I have not her address. Her 
stories admirably reproduce the present Indian style of nar- 
ration. Her mention of the Rev. J. W. Sanborn recalls 
another friend who collected many Seneca tales. One of 
these has appeared as 'The Mischief Maker and Peace 
■ Maker" in the Algonquin Legends of New England, by 
Charles G. Leland, Boston, 1898. I do not recall why it has 
a place there. The first part tells of the pranks of an Indian 
scamp; the second of his experience and the good he did 
after his reformation. 



THE PEACEMAKER 



The Mischief Maker was pursued by some on whom he 
had played his pranks and took refuge in a tall and thick 
tree. They could not find him but built a fire and camped 
under this tree. The smoke crept through the branches and 
went straight to the sky. 'The fugitive sailed away on the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION H5 

smoke, going- up and up — past beautiful lakes and hunting 
grounds stocked with deer, large fields of corn and beans, 
tobacco and squashes; past great companies of handsome 
Indians, whose wigwams were hung full of dried venison 
and bear's meat. And so he went on and up to the wigwam 
of the Great Chief." 

For a hundred moons he stayed there, learning a new lan- 
guage and habits of life. So well did he like these that he 
had no wish to go back when told he must do so. The Great 
Chief told him that he had been allowed to come that he 
might return and tell what he had seen. Then, if he lived 
aright, he might return and hunt and fish there forever. 

"A cloud of smoke, in the form of a great eagle, came to 
him, and, seated on its back, he was borne down to the top 
of the tree from which he had risen. He opened his eyes. 
The sun was shining. His pursuers had gone away. He 
descended and traveled on. His mind was filled with what 
he had seen. He said, 'I will no longer play tricks, but tell 
people what I learned in the happy hunting grounds.' After 
a long time he drew near to a village. He gave the common 
signal. Runners came to meet him. The head chief and 
all the people came to hear. He was asked, 'What news do 
you bring us ?' He said, 'I, that was the Mischief Maker, am 
the Peace Maker now,' " and he told his errand. 

There was great rejoicing, as he told of Ha-wen-ne-yu and 
his assistants. All the people might live and be happy if 
they would. Their Great Ruler would care for them, but 
they M^ere to avoid his wicked brother, the Evil Mind. 
He-no was sent to do them good and had a pouch full of 
thunderbolts for the wicked. The Indians were to pray to 
him at seed time and thank him in the harvest. He was to 
be called Grandfather. Ga-oh was the Wind Spirit. He 
moved the winds, though he was chained to a rock. When 
he struggles the winds are forced away from him. When he 
is quiet they also rest. Beans, com and squashes have each 
loving spirits. In fact all things have these assistant spirits, 
and they were to be thankful for the good work of all. 

"So Peace Maker taught the people. They threw tobacco 
on the fire, according to his instructions, and on the column 
of its smoke he was borne away to the happy hunting 



146 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

grounds. And the people danced and sang around the dying 
embers of the council fire." 



GES-GAR-DOH 



As an example of her material and work I give one of 
Miss Trippe's Seneca stories just as it was written by her. 

There was a man whose name was Ges-gar-doh. He 
bragged that he could kill Gau-nos-guah. He was very 
brave. He was afraid of nothing. He was sure that he 
could kill the human flesh eater, Gau-nos-guah. Gau-nos- 
guah lived in the woods. She could understand people's 
thoughts without hearing them talk. Ges-gar-doh one day 
went on the flats along the river bank. He had his ax, made 
of stone flint, on his shoulder. As he walked along, all at 
once Gau-nos-guah stood right in front of him. He was sur- 
prised. She spoke first. She said, "I have often heard that 
you have said, 'I can kill Gau-nos-guah.' I am not afraid of 
you. I would just like to see you kill me." 

This brave man was frightened. He ran. She followed 
him but she could not catch up with him. Her stone coat 
made her clumsy. They came to a river. Ges-gar-doh 
thought he would throw her off his track, so he forded the 
river. When he reached the other side he looked around and 
saw that she was wading across to him. So he went back 
under the water to the other side. When Gau-nos-guah had 
reached the bank, and saw him back on the opposite bank 
which she had left, she said, "I am going to get you, any 
how." 

She started through the water again. He doubled his 
path through the woods. He went around and around in a 
circle, until he came to a tree. This tree leaned against an- 
other tree. He climbed the tree and hid himslf among the 
branches. He did not puzzle her. She did not follow him in 
his circles, but came straight toward the tree where he was. 
But she did not know exactly where he was. She put her 
hand inside of her stone cloak and pulled out a human hand. 
She put this hand on a fallen tree. This tree was lying at 
her feet. She said to the hand, "Shov/ me the direction in 
which Ges-gar-doh is." 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 147 

The hand pointed straight up. Now Gau-nos-guah could 
not bend her neck to see where he was. Ges-gar-doh jumped 
down from the tree. He took the human hand. He stood a 
httle way from Gau-nos-guah with it. He knew she could 
not hurt him. Gau-nos-guah moaned and begged for the 
hand. She knew she could do nothing against Ges-gar-doh 
without it. All at once she saw the ax where Ges-gar-doh 
had left it. She ran her hand against the edge of the ax. 
This made the ax very sharp. With it she cut a stone in 
two pieces as easily as if the stone had been a pumpkin. 
Gau-nos-guah said" to herself, "Ges-gar-doh can easily chop 
me to pieces with that ax." 

Ges-gar-doh stood near, listening and Avatching. Gau- 
nos-guah went to him. She said, "I want that hand of mine. 
Give it to me, or I will die." He answered, "You always said 
that you are brave. Why are you moaning?" 

He walked around in a circle until he came to the ax» He 
picked it up and looked at it. She cried and begged him to 
give her the hand. He said, "I won't give it to you. I made 
up my mind when I came across a being like you, I would 
kill it." 

She answered, "I might as well give you instructions. 
You must be careful how you treat my hand. I realize I am 
going to die in a moment. You must keep the hand your- 
self and take good care of it. It will make you successful in 
hunting and in everything else. Use 'red sticks' in the 
swamp to bathe and freshen the hand. Scrape the bark off 
the 'red sticks,' and squeeze the juice out of it. Preserve the 
hand by washing it in this juice. If the hand gets dry it 
will be of no use to you. I know there is no hope for me. I 
can't escape. I might as well give myself up." 

Ges-giar-doh laughed, for he knew what he was going to 
do with her. He said, "Is that all you wish to say?" Gau- 
nos-guah had nothing more to say. Ges-gar-doh took his ax 
and cut off the head of Gau-nos-guah. Then he cut her in 
pieces and threw the pieces in all directions. Ges-gar-doh 
was very prosperous ever after, because he took good care 
of the hand, and didn't let it get dry. 

This is a fine variant of the Stone Giant and the pointer. 
Miss Trippe has another story of Gau-nos-guah, in which 



148 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

she is placed in a milder light. She stays with a hunter's 
family through the winter and helps in their work. The 
same feature appears in Mrs. Smith's story of the Stone 
Giant's wife. 



STONE GIANT'S WIFE 

In old times wives w^ent with their husbands to the hunt, 
for there was much they could do. Thus a hunter and his 
wife were alone in a forest camp v.'here game was abundant. 
One day he went one way to hunt, and his wife another to 
care for the game which had been killed and hung on the 
trees. When she returned she was surprised to hear a 
woman's voice, and afraid when she found a giant woman 
nursing her child. The giantess told her not to fear and 
explained her presence. Her own husband was cruel and 
sought her life. She had fled and was tired, but would help 
all she could. They must not give her raw meat or there 
might be bad results. If well cooked there was no danger. 
She would also bring in the game, as she knew where it was. 
She soon returned, with as much in one hand as four men 
could carry. The hostess cooked part of this and they ate 
together. When the hunter came in he was glad his wife 
had such good help. 

After he had gone the next morning the giantess told the 
wife that the Stone Giant would be there in three days. 
There would be a dreadful fight and they must help her kill 
him. Two days afterward she said, "Your husband must 
remain at home to-day, for mine is coming. Do not fear; 
we shall kill himi ; only you must catch and hold him. I will 
show you where to strike, so that it may reach his heart." 
Both feared at this, but she reassured them and they awaited 
the event. She stood in the door and v/as ready when he 
came. She seized and threw him. Then she told them what 
to do, and afterward buried him. She stayed with them, 
fetching game, etc., till they were ready to leave. Then she 
said she could now go home without fear, and bade them 
good-by. 

Mrs. Converse had Ga-nus-guah as a name for the Stone 
Giant who escaped when the Holder of the Heavens de- 
stroyed his kindred. She called him Ga-nus-guah, the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 149 

Depredator, which is the same as Gau-nus-guah in Miss 
Trippe's tale. Mrs. Converse's giant lived in a cave in the 
Alleghany mountains and was vulnerable only on the bottom 
of his foot. To see him was instant death. In the forests 
uprooted trees showed his trail. His feet impressed the 
rocks as he leaped from them. In storms his voices warned 
the Thunderers away from his cave. 

A young hunter, seeking shelter in a great rock from a 
storm, met him but saw him not. A voice was heard — now 
gentle, now terrifying. He must close his eyes if he would 
live, for he had meant no harm. He should go forth, free to 
be with beasts, fishes and birds. Such as these were his an- 
cestors. He must dedicate his life to honoring them. When 
he met one of these he must fell a tree and carve its image 
in the wood. If he heard a voice at the first blow, it would 
be his, and the work must go on. All trees had voices and 
he must learn them. He would watch and guide him. The 
hunter opened his eyes when told, and stood beside a bass- 
wood tree, since then used for wooden masks. Mr. Parker 
secured a mask carved on a small tree as it stood. 



TYAH-GOH-WENS, OR SPLITTING MOON 

A few years since a young man was to receive the above 
name at the Onondaga reservation. I copy a letter written 
in explanation of the name, but omitting the names of those 
most concerned. Part of the letter is omitted, of course, but 
otherwise it is verbatim, except as needful words are sup- 
plied in brackets. The clan and name had been agreed on, 
but some things were yet desired. 

"Auntie said she will name him after the wise man, one of 
her uncle of old times, he was one at ancient times. I v\'ill 
give you a little short History about him. he was the man 
that came here from one of the tribe that lives in the sky, 
that fly like angels do. them days his name was Tahergo- 
wens [Tyagohwens] , otherwise splitting moon. When he 
was in [this] land [he] has done lot of good things for the 
People, and safe them from starvation and every thing ruin 
from plantation, he is the one went to the moon and slashed 
[it] in two with his hand, and said, I am the one that can 
safe from dying and [being] starved, and everji;hing [then] 



IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 



1^0 ■, ,n the forest games, 

ail died from toeing starved ^^ ^^^^ to.dnnk, when 

vivers became diy, and Lt»>f « ". ' . ^es and vines, and a 
^appear from skye. ^"Vrt Partly dryed. and they all 
the fle d what was remamed ^^^^ Partly 'ij ^^.^ ^^_^^_ j^^_ 

si to him that they "^'^f^f' Moisture, and we are 
cause we are sufEermg f™™ f^^„ or dampness, even mill 
"ing in good faith - "« Jo e =: '. ^^ ^^^^^^. 
due is entirely left us and we scorched, but 

I'ere coi-nfield was aU yf^^J^^^l ,,,,, can we go back 
tte spear of [grass] half dryed, a ^^ ^^^^^^. ^j^^^^ ,„ 

,,th you when you K"^"^^; '^„T: moisture for us to grow 
this world, we cannot get no m 

and bare them. ^^^ questions, and he 

"Tahargowens [made] ^"""".^^.g^ you from suffering of 
said, be patiently. I will ^^°^^,f ^^^ to safe you all, my 
lack of water, he said ^ jh^. 1 J^ ^„d all Uvmg 

people, and all the vegetation, and ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^ d, I 

thing, and all Plantation. Then he ^^^ ^^^ ^^.^_ ^ all 

will split the moon, then y"'^ *a^^ h .^ ^^^^ ^^ 

the water in lakes and nversw^^^^^_ at that time 
Then the rain and thundei men came tahargowens 

tHere was no "^ff /'^""^ring no4 this was real history 
came and safe all the «f ejmg. bow ^^^^^^ ^^_^ 

about him. this was ages ago^jtwa^^^^^^_ ^^^^ t 
she brought corn and g™m wha-e t' ^^ ^^.^^ ,^^j, ^ 

this [a] Wonderful man that came a ^^ ^.^^ ^^^^^ ^^ 

air or moisture, or rain or water^ i k ^^ 

.hen you see this of our f^l^^'^'^s. This was one 
it v.-onderful what '^^f'^^^— These men, thunder 
of the Ir«luois ancient t^u^ history ^^^ ^^^ ^^ y 

makers, each has names, one real oia ^^^^^ ^j^g 

makes he heavcast, the deep reeling '^^Ifl^^^^g bolts, 

^st are savage; th^' "^'^^^^^''^em youngsters and ful 
and bum trees and bouses, w*^nftemy g ^^^^^^_ ^^^, 

of life, of ht^;^;,\tr .^ n evCthing was dying from 
rntSr^rktSs'was sad them days." ^^ ^^^^ 

There was some P^Pa-tion loi-^f^l a<loi*^^ ,,ou,d 
to come into the Snipe clan. Aunt^ sa ^^.^^ 

cook the old fashion ways; cook com soup, 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL^ASSOCIAIION jj, 

[have] water carted for her wM,' "/'" *? "" ^'^ ""'^ »" 
And the rest you W what't^ . ' """ "" '^' '=»°king. 
pipes for old peonirandTh f ' '°'"' '*^'=«' ^"d *<=«' 

adoption and'nat ;rtte ;Sr:^:;nt'"'rr "• '"^ ^"^ 
come see him when he rece^XT '. ''"""'^ '"'''^<' "> 
have war dance afterw3 th^ T "'''"'• ^'^^ ^« *"' 
^een con. dan^: the? or' ^T^ZZSll'TT ''''' 
different ways; just like whaTthev had "^ ''^'™' 
adopted by Iroquois tribe. ''^" ^"" """^ 

andi;;::;r?^Lt: ti^ rpo^nriniT *" ^i '^'^ -™ 
^:rcS^=d^^£B.^--^^ 

to the house for further ceremonies. These rit " 



NORTHERN GIANTS 

Cnttr ,f ""/""^ "^^ff-e Columbus came, said David 
Cusick the Ronnongwetowanea, or Northern fiiant, 
roub ed the Iroquois. They attacked the pCe only whn 
sure of success and made quick retreats. A young woman 
tor tL T;'^;r r™^ "« ^^^ "-^-^ wife of\~ 
ng fue? .nf K T'^f ^''"' *" '^"'^ ''''■ ^he was gather- 
teied 'i f "1 ^^"^ ""' '^"' l^™- After dark he en- 

Ms piptirth' '"" T'' ^''""^''- T'^^ ^i^"' °ff«-«d him 
fell asleen f 7 '™'''' '" P""^^' ""^ ^^^ »'™" ^ b^d '«>d 

whe,.rl ^' . / "^f '^"P^^"^" '"^ « ^^™ "««•■ the house, 
nkaedof V "*°'''^ "^" ^^™^^^- ^^e giant was much 
to w»t V. , ,' '°"'^"'''* "''"■ the prince; he advised his wife 
to watch daily m order to impose on another enemy." 

yo~%°'t'' '1?*''' '"'^ ""* ™*"™' Do"htonha, the 
a^d w?n' ."P *' '*'^™''- He was stout, fierce looking 

and well armed. His sister again entered the house and 
told her husband. Donhonta came in and asked tor his 



162 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

brother. He was told he was visiting some others, but 
might be back any moment. They ate quietly but the 
brother did not come. The guest was impatient but was 
offered a bed. First he went out and got some phosphoric 
wood. Then he lay down and slept. Having placed the 
wood over his eyelids it looked as though he were awake. 
Light shone from his eyes and he was unharmed. 

He quickly got up when daylight came, and began to 
search for his brother. The giant opposed this and a long 
fight followed. The giant was killed and burned in his 
house. His spirit became one of the eastern stars. His 
mourning wife died in the wilderness and now shines as a 
northern star. The elder brother's body was found and 
burned. 

The Ronnongwetowanea also attacked a small town on 
the Kanawage, (St. Lawrence). No one was at home ex- 
cept an old chief and an attendant named Yatatonwatea. 
The old man was killed; the young man escaped, but was 
pursued. At some places he tried to resist but had to fiee. 
Once he drove pigeons in the way to gain time. It was of 
no use. He tried the mountain rocks, but could not hide. 
He tried the hunting grounds and met two friendly war- 
riors. They checked the foe. A council followed and a 
band was chosen for the fight. They gained the victory, and 
"the Ronnongwetowanea tribe has ever since ceased to 
exist." 



THE FIVE NATIONS 

I have not as yet given Cusick's "Origin of the Kingdom 
of the Five Nations, which was called a Long House." It is 
odd and interesting, but facts are against it. "By some in- 
ducement a body of people was concealed in the mountain at 
the falls named Kuskehsawkich, (now Osv/ego) . When the 
people were released from the mountain they were visited 
by Tarenyawagon, i. e. the Holder of the Heavens, who had 
power to change himself into various shapes; he ordered 
the people to. proceed towards the sunrise as he guided 
them, and come to a river named Yenonanatche, i. e. going 
round a mountain (now Mohawk) , and went down the bank 
of the river and come to v/here it discharges into a great 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 163 

river running toward the midday sun; and Shaw-nay- 
taw-ty, i. e. beyond the Pineries, (now Hudson), and went 
down the bank of the river and touched bank of a great 
water. Tlie company made encampment at the place and 
remained there a few days. The people were yet in one lan- 
guage; some of the people went to the banks of the great 
water tovv^ards the midday sun; but the main company re- 
turned as they came, on the bank of the river, under the 
direction of the Holder of the Heavens. Of this company 
there was a particular body which called themselves one 
household ; of these were six families, and they entered into 
a resolution to preserve the chain of alliance which should 
not be extinguished in any manner. 

The company advanced some distance up the river of 
Shaw-na-taw-ty, (Hudson) the Holder of the Heavens di- 
rects the first family to make their residence near the bank 
of the river, and the family was named Te-haw-re-ho-geh, 
1. e. a speech divided, (now Mohawk) and their language 
was soon altered; the company then turned and went to- 
wards the sun setting and travelled about two days and a 
half, and come to a creek, which was named Kaw-na-taw-te- 
ruh, i. e. Pineries. The second family was directed to make 
their residence near the creek, and the family was named 
Ne-haw-re-tah-go, i. e. Big Tree, now Oneidas, and likewise 
their language was altered. The company continued to pro- 
ceed towards the sun setting, under the direction of the 
Holder of the Heavens. The third family was directed to 
make their residence on a mountain named Onondaga, (now 
Onondaga) and the family was named Seuh-now-kah-tah, 
i. e. carrying the name, and their language was altered. The 
company continued their journey towards the sun setting. 
The fourth family was directed to make their residence near 
a long lake, named Go-yo-goh, i. e. a mountain rising from 
water, (now Cayuga) and the family was named Sho-nea- 
na-we4o-wah, i. e. a great pipe ; their language was altered. 
The company continued to proceed toward the sun setting. 
The fifth family was directed to make their residence near a 
high mountain, or rather nole, situated south of the Canan- 
daigua lake, which was named Jenneatowake, and the fam- 
ily was named Te-how-nea-nyo-hent, i. e. Possessing a Door, 
now Seneca, and their language was altered." 

The rest went on to Lake Erie, then called Kau-ha-g\va- 



164 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

rah-ka, i. e. A Cap. Some went as far as Onau-we-yo-ka, 
i. e. a principal stream, now the Mississippi. The family 
which reached the ocean made its home near Cau-ta-noh, i. e. 
Pine in water, near the mouth of the Neuse river, N. C. 
These were the Tuscaroras, and were called Kau-ta-noh. To 
sum up: 

"The Holder of the Heavens returns to the five families 
and forms the mode of confederacy, which was named Goo- 
nea-seah-neh, i. e. A Long House, to which are 1st — Tea- 
kaw-reh-ho-geh ; 2d — New-hah-teh-tah-g-o ; 3d — Seuh-nau- 
ka-ta ; 4th — Sho-nea-na-we-to-wan ; 5th — Te-hoo-nea-nyo- 
hent." 

These are the names used in councils. The Iroquois ac- 
tually settled in New York from west to east, the Mohawks 
coming last. 

In his memoirs Mons. Pouchot says: "The River Au 
Sables, in Indian Etcataragarenre, is remarkable in this, 
that at the head of the south branch, called Tecanonouar- 
onesi is the place where the traditions of the Iroquois fix 
the spot where they issued from the ground, or rather, ac- 
cording to their ideas, where they were bom." Albert 
Cusick defined this as A long time ago this swamp was di- 
vided. On Pouchot's map Out-en-nes-son-e-ta is a stream 
north of Sandy Creek, which Cusick defined as where the 
Iroquois League began to form. 



ORIGIN OF THE ONEIDAS 

Schoolcraft has this note on the origin of the Oneidas: 
"Abraham Schuj^ler, an Oneida, says that the Oneidas orig- 
inated in two men, who separated from the Onondagas. 
They first dwelt at the outlet of Oneida lake, and next re- 
moved to the outlet of Oneida creek, on the lake, where they 
fortified. Williams says he was born there and is well ac- 
quainted with the old fort. Then they went to the head of 
the valley, at the Oneida Stone, from which they were 
named. Their fourth remove was to the present site of 
Oneida Castle, called a skull on a pole, where they lived at 
the time of the discovery and settlement of the colony by the 
Dutch, i. e. 1609-14." 



ONONDAGA IIISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 155 

This is erroneous throughout. The early Oneida forts 
were on the southern hills of Madison and Oneida counties, 
where they seem to have come about 1600, as an organized 
body. The fort on Oneida lake was destroyed late in the 
old French war; Oneida Castle was occupied before and 
after the Revolution. There are other recent village sites. 
The Oneidas are nearest of kin to the Mohawks, as position 
and dialect plainly prove. 



THE ONEIDA STONE 

In an account of a visit to Oneida in 1796, (Mass. Hist. 
Society, vol. 5) on a religious mission, Messrs. Belknap and 
Morse obtained this statement through Judge Dean, from an 
Oneida chief who was the head of the Pagan party and 80 
years old. He said : — 

"Some of them addressed their devotions to the wind, 
others to the clouds and thunder, he to the rocks and moun- 
tains, which he believed to have an invisible as well as visi- 
ble existence, and an agency over human actions. To this 
kind of supervising power he had always trusted for suc- 
cess in hunting and in war, and had generally obtained his 
desire. He had either killed or taken captive his enemy, and 
had been fortunate in the chase. 

"He regarded the Oneida Stone as a proper emblem or 
representative of the divinity whom he worshipped. This 
stone we saw. It is of a rude unwrought shape, rather in- 
clining to cylindrical, and of more than a hundred pounds in 
weight. It bears no resemblance to any of the stones which 
are found in that countiy. From whence it was originally 
brought no one can tell. The tradition is that it follows the 
nation in their removals. From it the nation is derived, for 
Oneida signifies the upright stone. When it was set up in 
the crotch of a tree the people were supposed invincible. It 
is now placed in an upright position on the earth, at the 
door of the old man's house. A stout man can carry this 
stone about 40 or 50 rods without resting." 

In a letter to Dr. Arthur Lee, Feb. 28, 1771, Sir Wm. 
Johnson had something to say about this emblem. (Doc. 
Hist, of N. Y., 4:432). The Oneidas, he says, "have in use 



156 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

as symbols, a Tree, by which they Express Stability. But 
their true Symbol is a Stone called Onoya, and they call 
themselves Onoyuts, a particular instance of which I can 
give from an Expedition I went on to Lake St. Sacram.ent in 
1746, when to show the Enemy the strength of our Indian 
Alliances I desired Each Nation to affix their Symbol to a 
Tree [to alarm] the French; the Oneydas put up a stone 
which they painted Red." 

He added that the Mohawk symbol was a steel used Vvith 
a flint in striking fire. That, of course, vf as recent. A large 
pipe represented the Cayugas. There are eight pages of in- 
teresting information. 

In the next account the Oneida Stone was probably at the 
old Indian village of Oneida, occupied in 1752 in the south- 
west corner of the town of Vernon, set off from Westmore- 
land in 1802. 

In the Life of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, p. 203, is this ac- 
count: "Oneida signifies the upright stone. There is still 
standing in the township of Westmoreland, a few miles from 
the old Oneida castle, an upright stone or rock, of consid- 
erable size, rising a few feet above the ground, which tradi- 
tion, and without doubt correctly, points out as their na- 
tional altar. Here, in the days of their paganism, from time 
to time immemorial, they were accustomed to worship the 
Great Spirit, and held a solemn religious festival. . . . 
Hence their name, the Oneidas, 'the tribe of the upright 
stone, the tribe returning to worship around the upright 
stone." 

Professor Timothy Dwight, in his travels in 1815, (Trav- 
els, vol. 4), mentioned one, probably not the same stone. 
"There is a stone not too large to be carried by a man of 
ordinary strength, at some distance Eastward from the 
Oneida village, vv^hich some of the people regard with relig- 
ious reverence, and speak of as their god. They say that it 
has slowly followed their nation in its various removals, and 
allege as afecisive evidence of the declaration that a few 
years ago it was much farther to the East than it now is. 
The truth is, a stout young man of the Oneidas, being a wag, 
resolved to amuse himself with the credulty of his tribe ; and 
therefore, whenever he passed that way, took up the stone 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 157 

and carried it some distance Westward. In this manner the 
stone, advancing little by little, made, in a few years, a con- 
siderable progress, and was verily believed by some of the 
Oneidas to have moved this distance spontaneously. The 
young fellow told the story to an American gentleman, and 
laughed heartily at the credulity of his countrymen." 

I do not understand that Mr. Dwight saw either this stone 
or man. He had quite a full account of Iroquois customs 
from others at Oneida. There have cei-tainly been several 
of these stones in various places. The first of these and the 
most remarkable was the one south of Perryville, described 
below. Another large boulder is at Nichols Pond, (1615), 
second in the series, one in Utica from Stockbridge, and 
those here described. I might mention more. 

My friend, Mr. A. W. Palmer, whose youth was spent in 
Clockville, and who did much valuable work at the historic 
Nichols Pond, made the following statement in 1900 : 

"In my early youth the Indians used to pass here fre- 
quently, and nearly always tov.^ard the south. I feared them 
greatly. To my anxious inquiries as to where they were 
going and what for, my grandfather told me that they went 
up to Fenner, to visit the place where they used to live, and 
to camp near a rock, which he called their 'council stone.* 
Later I learned that the rock in question was on the farm 
now OA^aied by Patrick Dougherty, and on the site of a well 
known historical Indian village. From the family of Paul 
Maine, who lived about one-fourth mile from the stone, I 
learned that the Oneida Indians visited the stone twice a 
year, sometimes camping for days in the vicinity ; but never 
at the stone — visiting it only at night. Miss Phebe Maine, 
in whose company I first visited the stone, told me some- 
thing of the legend of the stone rolling there from the far 
northwest, and pointing out to the tribe the place on which 
to build their village. I do not remember that she told me 
how she learned of this. She also told me that, as a child, 
in company with some older persons, she once saw a part of 
some strange ceremony performed by the Indians about the 
stone. The stone in question was a large granite boulder, 
somewhat oval in shape and as tall as a man. It was drilled 
and blasted by M. A. Blakeslee, of De Ruji;er, who did the 
work for James Gebbery, of Perryville, who then owmed the 
farm. 



168 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

"Among the multiplicity of 'sacred stones,' each one has 
some claim to be the original and only one, and I do not care 
to push the claims of the one here mentioned, but the fore- 
going are facts, and antiquarians may take their choice of 
'sacred stones' and worship accordingly." 

This site is not included in my Aboriginal Occupation of 
New York, (1900) the notes having come too late. With 
added knowledge there seems no doubt this was the original 
Oneida Stone. 



THE LAND OF SOULS 

The following account was sent to Dr. Jedidiah Morse by 
the Rev. Mr. Kirkland. "The region of pure spirits the Five 
Nations call Eskanane. The only characters which, accord- 
ing to their tradition, cannot be admitted to participate of 
the pleasures and delights of this happy country, are re- 
duced to three, viz : suicides, the disobedient to the councils 
of the chiefs, and such as put away their wives on account of 
pregnancy. According to their tradition there is a gloomy, 
fathomless gulf, near the borders of the delightful mansions 
of Eskanane, over which all good and brave spirits pass with 
safety, under the conduct of a faithful and skillful guide ap- 
pointed for that purpose; but when a suicide approaches 
this gulf, the conductor, who possesses a most penetrating 
eye, instantly discovers their spiritual features and charac- 
ter, and denies them his aid, assigning his reasons. They 
will, however, attempt to cross on a small pole, which, be- 
fore they reach the middle, trembles and shapes, till pres- 
ently down they fall with horrid shrieks. In this dark and 
dreary gulf they suppose resides a great dog, same say a 
dragon, infected with the itch, which makes him perpetually 
restless and spiteful. The guilty inhabitants of this misera- 
ble region all catch this disease of this great dog, and grope 
from side to side of their gloomy mansion in perpetual tor- 
ment. Sometimes they approach so near the happy fields of 
Eskanane they can hear the songs and dances of their 
former companions. This only serves to increase their tor- 
ments, as they can discern no light, nor discover any pas- 
sage by which they can gain access to them. They suppose 
idiots and dogs go into the same gulf, but have a more com- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 159 

fortable apartment, where they enjoy some little life." The 
name given here is from Skenno, Perfect peace. See also 
the Onondag-a story of the Two Dogs. 

At this particular time the N. Y. Iroquois Vv^ere much- 
given to suicide. He added that other nations had nearly 
the same tradition, all agreeing that the soul was ten days 
on its way to this happy land. 

Conrad Weiser, the Moravian interpreter, vsiio went a 
little earlier and was often at Onondaga, gives a different 
account : 

They believe that when the soul of a person leaves the 
body it takes a long journej'- to a happy land, where there 
are quantities of fat game, and everything grows luxuri- 
antly. That the huckleberries are as large as a man's fist, 
and the strawberries equally as large, and the taste is much 
better than ours. There a man can lie in the shade the whole 
day, and the most beautiful maidens wait upon him. There 
no one grows old. Those who have been the best and most 
heroic warriors here, there have the pre-eminence, and rule 
over the good v^^omen. No bad people came to this place, but 
if a common man got there he must be the servant of the 
others for many a year." 

The Canadian Hurons are nearly akin to the N. Y. Iro- 
quois, and the Jesuits v/rote much of their belief and cus- 
toms. In the Relation of 1636 they said that the Hurons 
thought that the soul did not at once leave the body on death. 
As they ca^rry the body to the tomb, the soul walks before, 
remaining in the cemetery till the great feast of the dead, 
but going through the towns at night and entering the 
cabins. There it shares in feasts and eats what is left in 
the kettles. So some will not eat of this next day. Some 
will not come to the feast made for souls, thinking death 
would follow from tasting this food. Others ate freely. 

At the great Huron dead feast, when all bodies were 
placed in one great pit, the souls left the cemeteries. Some 
thought they became turtle doves, which were shot, broiled 
and eaten. Commonly it was thought they went off in one 
great band after the feast, to a great village in the west. 
Old men and children, having weak legs, remain in the 
Huron country, having separate villages. They sow grain 
in abandoned fields. 



180 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

The strongest souls go farthest west, each nation having 
separate villages. Hurons would not welcome an Algonquin 
soul. Those dying in war form a band apart, feared by the 
others, who will not allow them and suicides to enter their 
village. The souls of thieves are welcome, otherwise the 
spirit village would be empty, Huron and thief being prac- 
tically the same. There are many interesting Huron fea- 
tures recorded. 



SENECA STORY 



In the Relation for 1670 is a touching incident occurring 
among the Senecas. The missionary said : "I baptized last 
week a young woman of the most considerable Tsonnon- 
touan, who died the day after her baptism. Her mother 
was unable to console herself for this loss, for our barbarians 
love their children wonderfully, and as I tried to calm her 
grief in representing to her the infinite happiness which her 
daughter enjoyed in heaven, she cried to me, naively 
enough: Thou didst not know her; she was mistress here, 
and commanded more than twenty slaves who are still with 
me ; she knew not what it was to go to the forest to bring in 
wood, or to the river, there to draw up water. She gave 
herself no care about housekeeping. Now I doubt not but 
that, being now the only one of our family in Paradise, she 
may have much trouble in getting used to it ; for she will be 
obliged to do her own cooking, to go for food and water, 
and to prepare all things for eating and drinking with her 
own hands. In truth does she not deserve compassion, 
having no one able to serve her there? Thou seest here one 
of my slaves who is sick. I pray thee instruct her well, and 
put her in the path of Heaven, so that she may not go out 
of the way, and that she may go and dwell with my daugh- 
ter, to aid her in all her household affairs. I availed myself 
of this occasion, and of the simplicity of this woman, to in- 
struct this sick slave." She was baptized and her mistress 
later. Besides ideas of a future life this reveals the luxuri- 
ous life of a wealthy Seneca Indian family. Some were rich 
and others poor. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 161 

DEAD FEAST 

There were various Dead Feasts. John Buck of Canada, 
Onondaga wampum keeper of Canada, wrote a curious ac- 
count of one to Hon. George S. Conover of Geneva, N. Y., 
which the recipient sent to me. The letter was his messen- 
ger, and a string of wampum gave it official sanction. It 
began thus : — 

• "I am John Buck's messenger. Therefore listen. 

''John Buck says in olden times of my forefathers was 
able to recall their departed relatives to see them again, 
the living ones will make one accord whatever the number 
they may be will get a feast at a certain house for the dead 
ones, and when the living ones will assemble at the ap- 
pointed place each of them will take a sliver off their bark 
door where it turns, this at their different one's houses, 
and enter noiselessly in the house where the feast is spread 
out for the dead, and they will now all set down next to the 
wall of the house on the ground all round the house, and the 
feast is spread out in the centre of the house, and one is 
appointed to address the Great Creator; at intervals he 
would throw an Indian Tobacco on the fire, he will ask the 
Creator to send their dead relatives, for they are desirous 
to see them again, and when he ends it, his speaking, he will 
sit down again, and they will let the fire go dowm till the 
light ceases, so that in the house becomes dark, and no one 
is allowed to speak or to make any noise, and in a little while 
they will hear people coming outside, and they will enter 
the house and will set themselves around the spread feast, 
and the assembled living ones will wait till the dead ones 
are about done eating, then the living ones will kindle the 
slivers of bark which they have brought with them, and the 
dead are now seen through this light." Here is the string of 
wampum. 

"So, dear friend, according what I have learned by of your 
letter which you sent and I have received, therefore I have 
wrote to you now of the above. I am your friend, 

"Chief John Buck, 

"Firekeeper of Six Nations of Indians, Canada." 



162 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

It was a common belief that the dead liked the good food 
of this world, and this was often placed on graves for a 
time. If it disappeared — as it iisiiallj!^ did — it was supposed 
to be eaten by the dead. Among the Onondagas our two 
local species of Dicentra (squirrel com) are knov\^n as Hali- 
ska-nah-ho-ne-hah, Ghost corn, or food for ghosts. 

Yet they feared the presence of unfriendly ghosts in their 
villages. At Onondaga, Dec. 27, 1656, a captive Erie gij.^l 
was killed by command of her mistress. "Towards evening 
the murderer, or some one else, had it cried aloud through 
the streets and by the cabins, that such a person had been 
put to death. Then each one began to make a noise with 
his feet and hands ; some, with sticks, struck upon the barks 
of the cabins to frighten the soul of the deceased and drive 
it very far away." 

Greenhalgh had a similar experience in a Seneca village 
in 1677. "This day," said he, "was burnt two women and 
a man, and a child killed with a stone. At night we heard 
a great noise as if ye houses had all fallen, butt itt was 
onely ye Innhabitants driving away ye ghosts of ye mur- 
thered." 



GHOST DANCE 



Albert Cusick gave me an account of the Ghost Dance at 
Onondaga in June, 1893. It was briefly described by Mor- 
gan. It is managed by women and comes in May or June. 
A society of women, called 0-kee-weh, makes the appoint- 
ment and arrangements. The members are termed 0-nah- 
kee-wah. The feast is of a general nature, and the spirits 
of dead relatives are supposed to be present throughout. 
The guests assemble at from 9 to 10 p. m. and dance till sun- 
rise, but have a feast at midnight. This custom still con- 
tinues. 

First of all there is a speech, and then men have a chant 
in %, time, accompanied by a large drum and a gourd rattle. 
The drum is like a short chum, with a head stretched across. 
The name is Ka-na-ju-we, or covered kettle. One tune fol- 
lows another, with words slightly varied. The women 
stand in a circle before the singers, keeping time. Then 
the women sing and the men are silent. Then the women 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 168 

march round in a circle to the beat of the drum. The word 
Wa-ha-yen, in the chant, means women. 

The Great Feather Dance follows (O-sto-wa-go-nah) and 
the men take part in this and some others till midnight, 
when tobacco is burned and the spirits of the dead are im- 
plored to give the living good and healthy lives. Dances 
follow till nearly morning, and among these are the Bear, 
Fish, Raccoon and Snake dances. Toward morning the 
women again form a circle before the singers, and nearly the 
same words and tunes follow as at first. Some of the words 
differ and mean "The morning is come ; we will all now go 
home." Then all the women again march in the council 
house, and slowly out and around it. At this time two men 
carry the drum, while another beats upon it. The women 
have something in their hands, and, as one or another holds 
up her arms, the men rush around, trying to get what she 
holds. All then return to the council house, where a speech 
is m.ade and soup is distributed from the big kettle. Their 
portions received all go home. 



GREEN CORN DANCE 

Commissioner Henry A. S. Dearborn, of Massachuseetts, 
while attending the Buffalo Creek council of 1838-39, took 
notes of a green corn feast, Sept. 8, 1838. About 300 In- 
dians were present, a third of them women and girls. Big 
Kettle presided, and there was a dance at 11 a. m. in the 
council house. On a bench in the center two men faced each 
other, with turtle shell rattles, well described. Thev sang 
and beat time, striking the rattles on the edge of the bench, 
around which w^as a circle of 20 women, encircled by 80 men. 
The women moved sideways, without taking their feet from 
the floor or raising their arms. The men sang, gesticulated 
and yelled more than an hour. 

The Big Kettle made a long speech, followed by another 
dance. In this a horn rattle and drum v\^ere used, but the 
musicians sang continuously, often changing tunes and 
time. Men and women danced as before. Then Big Kettle 
spoke for half an hour, and "sang a song while walking 
around the bench alone, and the others joined in the chorus, 
besides keeping time by a loud utterance of hip, hip, hip [he, 



Ig4 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

he, he.] After Big Kettle conchided all the other principal 
men, in succession, made a short speech and sang a song, 
walking once or twice round the bench. These songs are 
such as they expect to sing in heaven." 

A short dance followed; a speech from Big Kettle and 
from a Tonawanda chief concluding the ceremonies. A 
dance, as before, by men and women, made a sort of reces- 
sional. Com cooked in various ways and with various veg- 
etables was abundantly provided, and also "three large brass 
kettles, containing soup made from three deer." All were 
placed in the middle of the council house, where five women 
distributed all to other women, provided with baskets and 
tin pails. These were carried to their families, seated on 
the ground outside, in groups expectant. 



WOMEN'S DRESSES 



Commissioner Dearborn, 1838, thus describes women's 
dresses at Bufi'alo Creek: "A blue broadcloth petticoat, 
with a border of white beads worked round the bottom, from 
an inch to five inches wide, or a strip of bead work up the 
front, two or three inches in width. This is one piece of 
cloth, united in front and without a pleat. To confine it 
there is a strong deer skin string, tied around the waist, 
just above the hips. They step into the petticoat and draw 
it up, so as to be just above the ankles at the bottom, the 
belt is slipped up, and a fold being made in the top of the 
petticoat, on each hip behind, it is held tight above the waist 
and the belt then slipped down over it, and the portion above 
the belt rolled over it, which keeps this neat and rich gar- 
ment in place. The leggings are of blue, green or red broad- 
cloth. They are about nine inches in diameter, made in the 
form of a cylinder, and confined by a garter below the knee. 
The bottoms of these touch the instep, and are ornamented 
with beads, like the petticoat. 

"The gown, or upper garment, is usually of calico, made 
like a hunting shirt, dropping down to the hips, ornamented 
in front with brooches, and frequently round the neck and 
down the sleeves; over the whole is worn either a white 
blanket, like a mantle, or a piece of blue, black or brown 
broadcloth, which is put over the head and held by the 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION i65 

hands, so drawn over the chest as to cover the body and 
leave only the face exposed. The most able and tasty wear 
broadcloth mantles, when at a dance or on a visit t^ the 
city. They are two yards square and never trimmed or orna- 
mented — or is the list taken off. 

**The hair is invariably parted in the middle, and carried 
back and united in a knot, to which broad and long black 
ribbons are suspended in a knot, falling down as low as the 
hips; or the hair is simply tied near the head and hangs 
down low. Earrings, and all of silver, are universal. . . . 
The brooches are all of silver, and their rings, save in a few 
instances, of gold. The moccasins are deer skin, orna- 
mented with beads and porcupine quills. . . . The little 
girls, of three and six years old, are many of them beauti- 
fully clad like their mothers, and their dresses are covered 
with brooches." 

I have given this in full, so that any one may reproduce 
it as a fancy dress of that period. There have been later 
styles. 



INTONING 

When the Moravians were at Onondaga in 1750 one day 
they were surprised to hear messages intoned in the Grand 
Council. This was to indicate quotations. The chief was 
not using his own words but those of the Nanticokes : 

"To our astonishment an old Oneida began to shig- the 
message, which he had for the council in a high tenor voice. 
He continued for more than half an hour." 

Having as yet little knowledge of the Iroquois tongue, the 
two Moravians explained their belt and string to Canassa- 
tego, the great Onondaga chief, and he spoke for them in 
the council. Returning to the council, "He at once showed 
them the Fathom of wampum and belt, and intoned in the 
usual Indian fashion the significance of each." 

There are occasional references to this in notices of coun- 
cils. The most interesting I find on a less formal occasion. 
I have given Canassatego's account of the creation and early 
experience of the Five Nations. His principal auditor, Mr. 



166 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Wm. Henry, also, told of the chief's manner in narration 
following a long sentence to begin with from Mr. Henry. 

This was the Seneca chief, living in Ohio. 

"Then raising his voice and entering into the council style 
and manner of speaking and with that modulation, which I 
may call the quoting tone, being what they use in repeating 
messages, treaties, or anjrthing that has been said by others 
in former times, distant places, or preceding councils; a 
tone so particular, that if you come into a council in the 
middle of a speech, you can tell whether the person speak- 
ing is delivering his own sentiments or reciting those of 
another, this tone having the same effect in their speeches 
and answering nearly the same end, with our marginal in- 
verted commas in writing, to distinguish borrowed pas- 
sages, quoted as authorities; only that the Indians have 
three differences in the quoting tone, none of which we have 
in writing, viz., the approving accent, the disapproving ac- 
cent, and the uncertain or doubting, and that there is meas- 
ured or musical sound in all these tones. I say, Canassa- 
tego, in the quoting or historical tone, with the approving 
accent and with an air of great authority, v/ent on v/ith his 
account." 

The chief's prelude included measureless time as he spoke 
to Coseagon, the name which Mr. Henry bore, and which 
the Senecas formally gave him. He had younger auditors 
and he said : 

"Hearken to me; I will tell you and him all the true story 
of the beginning of this country and the making of all 
things in it, such as I long since learnt it from my mother, 
who had it from her mother, and so on backwards for a 
hundred generations." 



ORIGIN OF MAN 



Mr. Timothy Dwight (1804) had the following story from 
the Rev. Mr. Kirkland. This eminent missionary said it was 
formally delivered to him at a solemn assembly of Oneida 
chiefs and other principal people : 

"Before men existed there were three great and good 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 167 

spirits, one of whom was superior to the other two, and is 
emphatically the great Spirit and the good Spirit. At a 
certain time this exalted Being said to one of the others, 
'make a man/ He obeyed, and taking chalk formed a paste 
of it, and moulding it into the human shape, infused into it 
the animal principle, and brought it to the great Spirit. He, 
after surveying it, said, This is too white.' He then desired 
the other to make a trial of his skill. Accordingly, taking 
charcoal, he pursued the same process, and brought the re- 
sult to the great Spirit, who after surveying it, said, 'It is 
too black.' Then said the great Spirit, 'I will now try my- 
self ; and taking red earth he formed a human being in the 
same manner, surveyed it, and said, 'This is a proper (or 
perfect) man.' These three, as you will naturally antici- 
pate, were the original ancestors of all the white, black and 
red men of our race." 

Lafitau said, in regard to national origin : "The Mohawk 
Iroquois, it is said, assert that they wandered a long time 
under the conduct of a woman named Gaihonariosk ; this 
woman led them about through all the north of America, 
and made them pass to a place where the town of Quebec is 
now situated. . . . This is what the Agniers tell of their 
origin." 

The Onondagas say they were made of red clay by Sone- 
yah-tis-sa-ye. The One that made us. This is their usual 
name for the Creator, and often used by Christian Indians. 
He also made the white man out of ocean foam, and thus he 
is white. Ta-en-ya-wah-kee, the Holder of the Heavens, is 
used in religious ceremonies only at the White Dog feast. 
Ha-wen-ne-yu or God, One that rules in all things, origin- 
ated with the French missionaries, and is used by Christian 
Iroquois. The Evil Mind was called Enigonhahetgea by D. 
Cusick. Mr. Morgan varied but slightly from this, render- 
ing it as Ha-ne-go-ate-geh. There were inferior good and 
evil spirits. To the foraier they gave special thanks and in 
various ways. 

I can hardly assent to Mr. Morgan's statement that "In 
the existence of the Great Spirit an invisible but ever pres- 
ent Deity, the universal red race believed. . . . The Iroquois 
believed in the constant superintending care of the Great 
Spirit. He ruled and administered the world, and the af- 



168 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

fairs of the red race." So little conception had they of the 
nature of such a Being- when the Jesuits first came, that 
they had to f omi a name to express this new thought. 



THE NEW YEAR'S FEAST 

Among the Hurons, in 1642, they said that people made, 
"during the winter, a public solemnity where the dreams 
are all honored on the same day. They call this celebration 
Ononhouaroia, or the turning of the head, because all the 
youth, and even the women and children, run about like 
madmen, claiming that they should obey their demons, by 
making a present to them of a thing which they put as a 
riddle, and which has been dictated to them in a dream." 

In 1656 Father Dablon said, in Onondaga, "they make a 
special feast to the demon of dreams. This feast may be 
called the feast of madmen, or the carnival of bad Chris- 
tians. . . . They name this feast Honnonouaroria. The An- 
cients go to proclaim it through the streets of the town. 
We came to this ceremony the twenty-second of February 
of this year, 1656." 

Among the Cayugas, the next year, it is said "It i.s not, 
properly speaking, the dream which they adore as the Mas- 
ter of their life, but a certain one of the Genies that they 
call Agatkonchoria, who, as they think, speak to them some- 
times in sleep, and command them to observe their dream 
exactly. The principal of these genii is Tharonhiawagon, 
whom they recognize as a divinity, and whom they obey as 
the great Master of their life; and vx^hen they speak of a 
dream as of God, they wish to say no other thing than it is 
by this that they know the will of God. . . . They also 
sometimes give this same name of Master of their life to 
the object of their dream; for example, to a bear skin or 
a deer skin." 

At Onondaga, in 1671, it was said that this feast was 
kept at least once a year, toward the end of February, "in 
favor of their dreams, by which they claim to know all the 
wishes of a certain Taronhia wagon, over their good or evil 
fortune ; this genius, they say, is the most powerful of all 
the genii, and the Master of our life." The feast (or fast) 



i 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 169 

often lasted four or five days. All was in disorder and 
nothing eaten but by stealth. 

Thus far only did the Iroquois believe in a Great 
Spirit in early days. The dream often brought ludicrous 
and sometimes fatal consequences, in endeavors to fulfil it. 
It is still a feature of the White Dog feast at Onondaga, 
which succeeded it, there being no record of a dog sacrifice 
there in colonial days. At present a white and decorated 
basket is burned in the council house stove. Fuller notes 
will be given. 



LOCAL DEITIES 



Local deities or demons are often mentioned. In 1636, 
"On the road of the Hurons to Quebec there are some rocks 
which they specially venerate, and to which they never fail 
to offer some tobacco when they go down to trade. They 
call one Hihiouray, that is to say the rock where the Cha- 
huan makes its nest ; but the most noted is that which they 
call Tsanhohi Arasta, the dwelling of Tsanhohi, which is a 
bird of prey. They tell marvels of this rock; according to 
them it was formerly a man, who had been, I know not 
how, changed into stone so that they yet distinguished there 
the head, the arms and body; but he must have been mar- 
velously powerful, for this mass is so vast and so high that 
their arrows cannot touch it. Moreover they claim that in 
the hollow of this rock there is a demon, who is able to make 
their journey succeed; this is why they stop there in pass- 
ing, and offer him some tobacco, which they simply place 
in one of the clefts, addressing to him this prayer: "Demon 
who dwellest in this place, behold the tobacco which I pre- 
sent to thee, help us, guard us from shipwreck, defend us 
against our enemies, and cause that after we have made a 
good trade we may return in safety to our village." 

Golden (Hist, of Five Nations) said that after the dro\\Ti- 
ing of Gorlear, Lake Ghamplain was called after him. 
"There is a Rock in this Lake on which the Waves dash 
and. fly up to a great Height, when the Wind blows hard; 
the Indians believe that an old Indian lives under the Rock, 
who has the Power of the Winds; and therefore, as they 
pass it in their voyages over, they ahvays throw a pipe or 



17G IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

some other small Present to this old Indian, and pray a 
favorable Wind." 

Of this rock Peter Winnie said, in 1750, "That Rogeo is 
on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, opposite Corlear's 
island, and that the Indians in passing call out Rogeo, and 
make offerings to the rock, by throwing pipes, tobacco, etc., 
into the lake." 

John Lydius testified (1750, N. Y. Col. Doc. 6, 569) that 
for 25 years the Indians had told him "that the Noi-thward 
of Saraghtoga, as far as the Rock Rogeo, did and does be- 
long to the Mohawks, which Rock is situated on the Lake 
Champlain about ten leagues north from Crown Point, 
neither hath he ever heard of any other Rock called by the 
Indians Rogeo — Rogeo being a Mohawk word and the name 
of a Mohawk Indian who was drown'd, as the Indians say, 
in the Lake Champlain near that Rock, long before the 
Christians came amongst them, from whence the Mohawks 
call both the Rock and the Lake Rogeo." 

Others give Rott-si-ich-ni, The coward spirit, as a name 
of Lake Champlain, an evil spirit having lived and died on 
an island there. 

In the Jesuit Relation of 1668, a French and Indian party 
was, one day, two miles north of Ticonderoga. "We all 
stopped at this place, without knowing the cause of it, till we 
saw our savages gathering on the w^ater's edge, gun tiints, 
nearly all shaped. We gave this little thought at the time, 
but afterward learned the mystery, for our Iroquois told us 
that they never fail to stop in this place, to render homage 
to a nation of invisible men, who dwell there in the depths 
of the water, and are occupied in preparing gun-flints, 
nearly finished, for the passers-by, provided that they do 
their devoirs in presenting them tobacco ; if they give them 
much of this they make them a great largess of these stones. 
These marine men go in a canoe, like the Iroquois, and when 
their great captain comes to throw himself into the water 
to enter his palace, he makes so great a noise that it fills with 
terror those who have no knowledge of this great genie and 
these little men. 

"At the recital of this fable, which our Iroquois made very 
seriously, we asked them if they did not also give tobacco to 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 171 

the great genie of heaven, and to those who dwell with him. 
They replied that they had no need, like those of the earth. 
The occasion for this so ridiculous story is, that in truth the 
lake is often agitated by very dreadful storms, which cause 
furious waves ; above all in the bay where Sieur Corlart, of 
whom we have just spoken, perished; and when the wind 
comes across the lake, it casts upon this shore a quantity of 
stones, hard and fit to strike fire." 

Such tales are frequent. I will quote one of another 
kind from Megapolensis, an early Dutch missionary to the 
Mohawks : 

"They have a Tharonhijouaagon (whom they otherwise 
call Athyasekkuatoriaho) , that is, a Genius whom they 
esteem in the place of God; but do not serve or present 
offerings to him. They worship and present offerings to 
the Devil, whom they call Otskon or Aireskoui ; if they have 
any bad luck in war they catch a bear, which they cut in 
pieces and roast, and then they offer up to their Aireskoui, 
saying the following words: *0 great and mighty Aire- 
skoui, we know that we have offended against thee, inas- 
much as we have not killed and eaten our captive enemies ; 
forgive us this. We promise that we will kill and eat all 
the captives we shall hereafter take, as certainly as we have 
killed and eaten this bear." 

Father Jogues, from whom he had this, and who saw this 
promise fulfilled. May 24, 1643, varied from the above. 
Three naked female captives were led into the Mohawk vil- 
lage and had their thumbs cut off. "One of them (a thing 
not hitherto done) was burned all over the body, and after- 
ward thrown into a huge pyre. Worthy of note is a strange 
rite I then beheld. ^\Tien this woman was tortured, at 
every burn which they caused by applying lighted torches 
to her body, an old man, in a loud voice, exclaimed, 'Demon 
Aireskoi ! we offer thee this victim, whom we burn for thee, 
that thou mayest be filled with her fiesh, and render us ever 
anew victorious over our enemies.' Her body was cut up, 
sent to the numerous villages and devoured ; — for 
about midwinter, grieving, as it were, that they had re- 
frained from eating the flesh of some prisoners, they had, 
in a solemn sacrifice of the two bears, which they offered 
to their demon, uttered these words: 'Justly dost thou pun- 



\72 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

ish us, oh demon Aireskoi! — lo, this long time we have 
taken no captives; during the summer and fall we have 
taken none of the Algonquins.' (These they consider prop- 
erly their enemies.) 'We have sinned against thee in that 
we ate not of the last captives thrown into our hands ; but 
if we ever again capture any, we promise thee to devour 
them, even as we now do these two bears,' — and they kept 
their word." Thus the Mohawks were reputed cannibals. 



LANGUAGE 



As has been intimated, the great distinction between the 
Iroquois dialects and the Algonquin and our owm, is that 
the former have no labials ; in the others they abound. As 
one of my Onondaga friends said, "An Onondaga opens his 
mouth when he speaks; a white man shuts his." Paleface 
story tellers, who are ignorant of this, very often misplace 
names. But then we have a warlike Mohawk people. True, 
but 250 years ago they could not pronounce this name, 
given them by the New England Indians. They were the 
Agniers of the French, or People of the Flint. The An- 
dastes, near kindred of the N. Y. Iroquois, were the Min- 
quas or Mingoes of the shore Indians of Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey. Seneca is another Algonquin term fo^- the 
greatest member of the Iroquois tribe. My earliest history 
of the United States taught me that the Five Nations could 
not pronounce their favorite Peter Schuyler's name, and 
had to call him Quider. Oneida treaties fairly bristle Vvith 
Queders and Quedels. 

There have been many partial lexicons compiled at 
various times w^hich need not be specified. I myself have 
collected about 3,000 Onondaga words. In Iroquois com- 
pound words adjectives usually follow the noun; in Algon- 
quin they are prefixed. The letters R and L are now very 
obscure or lacking in Onondaga words. In Mohawk and 
Oneida they abound. 



RELATIONSHIP 



All members of a clan are as one family, and thus no one 
can marry into his own clan. Thus in every household there 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 173 

are two clans, with no increase on the father's side, all the 
children being of the mother's clan and nation. A chief's 
son does not succeed him. That is well. On the other hand 
the line of descent presents some difficulties. The Onondaga 
reservation was not given to that people, but reserved by 
them and for them alone. The Oneidas, Cayugas and Sen- 
ecas living there have an ownership of the houses they oc- 
cupy, but not of the land on which they stand, and if a land 
sale or apportionment were now possible this would at once 
be seen. Every Onondaga, young or old, would have his or 
her share of the land or its proceeds, and no one else. It is 
a very simple case of legal rights, as now determined by the 
Onondagas themselves. 

Of course no one else has any voice in public affairs. The 
Oneidas have chiefs in the old way, and the Onondagas 
cheerfully install them in the council house, but this gives 
them no rights in local matters. Practically the old time 
national lines are maintained. They are good neighbors, 
sympathetic and helpful, having ties of kindred and other 
social virtues, but, after all, an Oneida or Cayuga is not an 
Onondaga. 



THE CONDOLENCE 



When the old women have chosen a chief and gained ap- 
proval, he is usually publicly installed. This is called a con- 
dolence, but is not of a religious character. The time and 
place are fixed and the call issued with wampum strings. 
There are two brotherhoods. The elder brothers are the 
Mohawks, Onondagas and Senecas. We have no Mohawks 
here. The younger brothers are the Oneidas and Cayugas, 
and the Tuscaroras in an irregular way. The latter do not 
appear in the condoling songs. The call is made up of three 
strings of purple wampum, attached to a small tally stick, 
on which are cut notches for the intervening days. Each 
day a notch is removed by the messenger or recipient. For 
a w^ar chief a looped string of purple beads is attached to a 
stick, and for a religious council white wampum is used 
throughout. The mourners are passive in all this, incapable 
of action. The elder brothers act for the younger or the 
reverse. 



174 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

On the appointed day a "woodside fire" is kindled at a 
convenient distance from the council house now, but for- 
merly at the woodside of the town, or even farther. The 
officiating visitors and mourners are ranged on either side, 
the wampum is returned and addresses made. Then a pro- 
cession is formed for the march to the council house, headed 
by a singer who chants the great roll of the first fifty chiefs. 

At the first condolence I attended at Onondaga, a large 
number of Onondagas and Senecas congregated at noon 
farther away than now. An Oneida runner came to find 
their names and number. On one side of a stick he cut 
notches for the Onondagas — on the other for the Senecas. 
We soon moved forward, two singers leading the way to the 
woodside fire, and thence to the council house, where the 
mourners occupied one end and the condolers the other. 
The singers continued the long roll call to its end. 

Then a curtain was stretched from side to side, behind 
which a fine song was heard from several voices. The cur- 
tain was removed, and a rod appeared between two benches, 
on which were seven bunches of purple wampum. Each 
bunch was carried to the opposite side, a song being intoned 
for each one. There it was placed on another stick at the 
end, and the singer said, "Now show me the man." The 
answer was "Wait." The curtain was rehung, the great 
song was heard again, the curtain removed, the wampum 
returned with its appropriate songs, the new chief presented 
and installed with good advice, and the condolence concluded 
with an evening feast. The songs had no accompaniment. 

All such observances at Onondaga now attract but little 
attention. I was at a condolence there for raising the pres- 
ent Tadodaho, Sept. 8, 1917. Hardly a move was made be- 
fore the middle of the afternoon. Six persons sat on each of 
the two benches at the woodside fire, where a spectacled 
chief read his part, and the new chief had a new suit of store 
clothes. Three white people and a fev/ Indians were at the 
council house. 

My contributions to these records have been several ac- 
counts from my own notes, all the music used, a revision of 
the intoned wampum deliveries at the curtain removals by 
arranging mere syllables into v/ords, and more exact work 
on Onondaga names of the fifty chiefs. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 175 

MUSIC 

Supplementary to this I have many tunes with words, ar- 
ranged as dances, usually with accompaniment of one kind 
or another. Most of these I had through the Rev. Albert 
Cusick, a skilled musician, as sung by native Onondagas, 
some of whose names are appended to the several pieces 
sung by them. Eighty-seven tunes, mostly vvithout vrords, 
come from Ontario Archaeological reports, Toronto, Can- 
ada. Mrs. Harriet M. Converse has collected many among 
the N. Y. Senecas, her verses giving the suggested theme 
rather than the exact words. Mr. Arthur C. Parker has 
collected a fev/ from the Senecas, published in N. Y. reports. 
At the memorial services held at L. H. Morgan's tomb in 
Mount Hope Cemeterj^, Rochester, Nov. 14, 1920, an Indian 
dirge "was chanted with dramatic effect by an Oneida maid, 
Miss Elsie Elms," of Manlius, N. Y. I had returned home 
from the Indian Welfare conference, but- a friend who was 
present wrote me that "The singing of the invocation to the 
Great Spirit by Miss Elms, and the prayer in the Mohawk 
dialect, were two of the most impressive events I have ever 
witnessed. Tears rolled down my cheeks and there were 
other wet eyes in the audience." It was arranged to have 
this made an Edison record. In November, 1921, I heard 
Miss Elm sing this beautiful dirge in Buffalo. - 

As far as I know, Prof. Lyman, teacher of music in the 
Syracuse public schools, was the first to interest himself in 
this line of work here. Before 1894 he had made a fine col- 
lection of Onondaga music, giving lectures on these of a high 
character. Naturally I failed to get copies of this collection 
or descriptions of his Indian musical instruments after his 
death, though I tried. The Delav/are School, however, se- 
cured two pieces, with words, and I have copies of these. 
The ethers probably perished. 

In Onondaga songs I have preserved most of the Indian 
names, as the Ah-don-wah, or Thanksgiving songs; So-tah- 
ka-ne-a, or Women's songs; Hah-do-je-ho-en-nah, or False 
Face dances; 0-chon-ta 0-en-nah, Fish dances; Ta-ya-no- 
hah-quad-hah. Scalp dances; Ka-ta-cha-tah, Trotting 
dances ; and 0-sto-wah-go-nah, the Great Father dance, the 
most noted of all. The Senecas have many named after 
birds. In Canada there is the Lonesome Woman's song; 



17§ IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Old and Young Chief's favorite songs ; Discovery and Medi- 
cine dances; those for Green Corn and Beans. In all there 
may be a score or more of tunes for each theme, mostly 
unrecorded. 



GAMES 

Games are of many kinds and have always entered largely 
into the life of the Iroquois. Some of them are very old and 
were described by the earliest explorers, as that of the bowl 
or dish, frequently mentioned in the earlier Jesuit Relations. 
It is now usually called the peachstone game. In earl:\^ days 
the stones of the wild plum were used, but now six peach 
stones are ground down to an elliptic flattened form, the op- 
posite sides being black or white. I have sets of these but 
lack the fine wooden bowi used when I was taught the game. 
This was handsomely carved out of a hard knot, and was 
three inches deep by eleven across the top. The six stones 
are placed in Kah-oon-wah, the bowl, and thence the Onon- 
dagas term the game Ta-yune-oo-wah-es, throwing the bowl 
to each other as they take it in turn. In public or real play- 
ing, two players are on their knees at a time, holding the 
bowl between them. In merely learning the game we sat in 
chairs, the bowl in another chair between us. Beans are 
usually used as counters, but we had plum stones. Some 
rules are settled by agreement. Five of one color count as 
0-yu-ah, or the Bird. All white or all black gain 0-hen-tak, 
or a Field. These two are now the only winning points, but 
all white or all black counted in early days. 

This ancient game is yet, or was recently, used among 
the Onondagas at the White Dog feast. Clan plays against 
clan, the Long House against the Short House, and, to fore- 
tell the harvest, the women play against the men. If the 
men win, the ears of com will be long, like them ; reversing 
this if the women win.. This game was much used in divin- 
ation ; perhaps in a different way, each piece having its own 
familiar spirit, but it is now generally a social game. Gam- 
bling at a feast is called Ken-yent-hah. 

Father Brebeuf vividly described this as he saw it among 
the Hurons in 1636. He said: "The game of the dish is 
also in great repute in matters of medicine, especially if 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 177 

the sick man has dreamed it. The game is purely chance ; 
they have for use six phim stones, white on one side, black 
on the other, within a dish, which they throw violently 
against the ground, so that the stones jump and turn them- 
selves, sometimes on the one side, sometimes on the other. 
The match consists in having all white ones or all black. 
They usually play village against village. The whole com- 
pany crowds into one cabin, and arranges itself on the one 
side and the other, upon poles raised even to the top. They 
bring in the sick man in a blanket, and that one from the 
village who is to shake the dish (for there is but one ap- 
pointed for this purpose) walks after, his face and head 
enveloped in his robe. Both sides bet loud and firmly. 
When the one on the opposite holds the dish they scream 
loudly, 'Achinc, Achinc, Achinc, Three, three, three;' or 
else, 'lo-io, lo-io,' wishing that he may throw only three 
white or three black." It strongly suggests one popular 
page in our city dailies now. 

He adds the methods of some players who were in high 
repute for their skill. As they often anointed their pieces 
for good luck, this may have served a further purpose ; but 
he was astonished to see how, in a covered vessel, they 
could have all white or all black at pleasure ; but they were 
notorious cheats. Father Bruyas, in the Mohawk Valley, 
defined Twatennaweron, to play with the dish, deriving it 
from the Mohawk word At-nen-ha, a fruit stone. He gave 
many words relating to this game and to casting lots, an- 
other common thing. Loskiel, the Moravian, fell into an 
error, saying: "The chief game of the Iroquois and Dela- 
wares is dice, which indeed originated with them. The 
dice are made of oval and flatfish plum stones, painted 
black on one and yellow on the other side." 

There is another form of this game of chance, differing 
in the number of pieces and their material. Bruyas, lexicon 
of Mohawk words, mentions this as the game in which the 
women scatter fruit stones with the hand. The mode re- 
mains but bone or horn disks are now used. L. H. Morgan 
described this as the game of deer buttons, called Gus-ga-e- 
sa-ta by the Senecas. They used eight circular buttons of 
deer horn, about an inch in diameter and blackened on one 
side. These are an eighth of an inch in thickness and bev- 
eled to the edge. He said, ''This was strictly a fireside 



178 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

game, although it was sometimes introduced as an amuse- 
ment at the season of religious councils, the peoi3le dividing 
into tribes, as usual, and betting upon the result." 

My set of buttons differs in being smaller, and in having 
a circle of eight black dots on one side, arranged around a 
central one. This is neatly and accurately done. The On- 
ondagas term the game Ta-you-nyun-wat-hah, or Finger 
Shaker. One to three hundred beans form the pool, as may 
be agreed, and it is a household game. 

In playing this the pieces are raised in the hand and 
scattered, the desired result being indifferently white or 
black, really not differing from Morgan. Two white or 
two black will have six of one color, and these count two 
beans, called 0-yu-ah, or the Bird. The player proceeds till 
he loses, when his opponent takes his turn. Seven white or 
black gain four beans, called 0-nyo-sah, or Pumpkin. All 
white or all black gain twenty or a Field. These three are 
all that draw anything. The game is played singly or by 
partners, without limit to number. 

In counting results there is a kind of ascending reduc- 
tion; for as two birds make one pumpkin, only one kind 
can appear in the count. First come the twenties, then the 
fours, then the twos, which can appear but once. Thus we 
may say for twenty, Jo-han-to-tah, you have one field or 
more, as the case may be. In the fours we can only say, 
Ki-ya-ne-you-sah-ka, you have four pumpkins, for five 
would make a field. For two beans there is the simple an- 
nouncement of 0-yu-ah, or bird. 



LA CROSSE 



La Crosse seems the oldest ball game remaining and the 
most widely spread. Three centuries ago, at least, the 
Hurons and others played it, village against village, and it 
was also played for the sick. When the prophet, Handsome 
Lake, reached Onondaga reservation, August 10, 1913, he 
was very sick and in great distress. . . . Now it happened 
that they all wished to comfort him. So for his pleasure 
they started a game of la crosse and played the game well. 
It was a bright and beautiful day and they brought him 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 179 

out SO that he might see the play. Soon he desired to be 
taken back into the house," where he died. 

The game is too well known to require minute descrip- 
tion, but the leading features are the two rival bands who 
try to carry or throw the ball between two guarded poles 
at either end of the ground. The ball must not be touched 
with the hand, but may be caught up, carried or thrown 
with the broad bat. This bat is bent into a broad hook at 
one end, this part having a network of sinews. It is one of 
the most picturesque and exciting of games, the players 
racing, dodging, throwing, struggling and digging up the 
ball in the liveliest manner possible. With all its seeming 
rudeness it is less dangerous than foot or base ball, but the 
Onondagas know its boisterous character and call it Ka- 
che-kwa-ah. Hitting with their hips. Morgan said the Sen- 
eca name is 0-ta-da-jish-qua-age. 

The snow snake game is a simple test of strength and 
skill, but is nowhere mentioned by early writers. The long 
and slender wooden rod is called Ka-when-tah by the Onon- 
dagas and Ga-wa-sa by the Senecas, and is thrown upon the 
snow or ice, to see who can send it farthest. It is from five 
to seven feet long, flattened and beautifully polished, and 
with an upturned pointed head, usually pointed with lead 
and blackened. As the long shaft bends in its swift career 
it suggests a gliding snake, and hence its name. It is rarely 
seen outside of reservations. 

There are other games which I need not now describe, 
and some have been adapted from us. I have thought the 
game of the bell and shoe might have been one of these. A 
bell is hidden in one of these shoes by the Onondagas, and 
they guess in which it is. In Tanner's Narrative, published 
in 1830, he described a similar game played by the Ottawas 
and Crees, with four moccasins, in one of which was hid- 
den some small object. The guesser and his party touched 
these with varying results. In this case, therefore, the On- 
ondagas have preserved an old game, substituting modern 
articles for primitive forms. 



180 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

MID-WINTER FEASTS 

Feasts take on many forms, and vary from those which 
are periodical and general, to those which are of a more 
personal character. At the head of all is or was the mid- 
winter feast, which has undergone many changes in the 
las-t three hundred years. I have mentioned this among* 
the Hurons and give some incidents occurring at Onondaga 
in 1656. 

"They believe not only in their dreams, but they make a 
special feast to the demon of dreams. This feast may be 
called the feast of madmen, or the carnival of bad Chris- 
tians, for the devil causes almost the same things to be 
done there and at the same time. They name this feast 
Honnonouaroria. The Ancients go forth to proclaim it 
through the streets of the town. We came to the ceremony 
the twenty-second of February of this year, 1656. As soon 
as this feast was made known by these public cries, one 
saw only men, women and children run through the streets 
and cabins like madmen, not unlike the masquerade in 
Europe. The larger part are almost naked, and seem to be 
insensible to cold, which is almost insupportable to those 
better clad. It is true that some give no other sign of their 
folly than to run half naked through all the cabins, but 
others are malicious. Some carry water, or something 
worse, and cast it on those they meet. Others take fire- 
brands, coals and cinders from the hearth, scattering them 
here and there, without considering on what these might 
fall. Others break the kettles and dishes, and all the small 
household things that come in their way. There are those 
who go armed with swords, bayonets, knives, axes, clubs, 
and make semblance of wishing to discharge these on the 
first comers; and all this is done till some one has found 
out and executed this dream, in which there are two things 
very remarkable. 

"The first is that it sometimes happens that no one is 
found who is good enough diviner to guess their thoughts ; 
for they do not propose them very clearly, but by enigmas, 
by concealed words, in singing, and sometimes by gestures 
alone. . . . Yet they go not from the place till some one 
has guessed their thoughts, and if one is very slow, or 
wishes not to interpret it, or is not able, they threaten to 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION jgl 

reduce all to fire and ashes. This happens only too often, 
as we have found almost to our cost. 

"One of these senseless fellows having slipped into our 
cabin, wished, with all his might, that some one should 
guess his dream and another satisfy it. Though we had 
declared, at the outset, that we were not there to obey these 
dreams, he yet persisted for a long time to cry, to storm 
and to make himself furious, but in our absence; for we 
had retired into a field cabin to escape these disorders. One 
of our hosts, wearying of these cries, presented himself to 
him, to know what he claimed. This furious man replied : 
I kill a Frenchman ; behold my dream, which must be exe- 
cuted, whatever it costs. Our host threw to him a French 
dress, as though the spoils of a dead man, and at the same 
time, putting himself in a fury, said that he would avenge 
the death of the Frenchman ; and that his loss will be that 
of the whole town, which he would reduce to ashes, com- 
mencing with his own cabin. Then he drove from it rela- 
tives and friends, servants, and all the great crowd which 
had gathered to see issue of this hubbub. Being left alone 
he fastens the doors, putting fire everywhere. 

At this moment, while every one waited to see this cabin 
in flames. Father Chaumonot arrives, coming to do an act 
of charity. He sees a horrible smoke issue from his bark 
house ; one tells him what it is. He forces a door ; he throws 
himself into the midst of the fire and smoke, draws back 
the firebrands, extinguishes the fire and gently made our 
host come forth, contrary to the expectation of all the popu- 
lace, who never resist the fury of the demon of dreams. 
This man continues in his fury. He runs through the 
streets and cabins, cries as much as he can that he goes to 
set all on fire, to avenge the death of the Frenchman. One 
presents him a dog to be the victim of his anger, and of the 
demon of his passion. It is not enough, said he, to efface 
the shame and the affront that one has made me, to wish 
to kill a Frenchman lodged in my house. One presents him 
a second. He is at once appeased, and returas to his own 
house as coolly as if nothing had occurred. . . . 

"The brother of our host wished to play his part as well 
as the others. He dressed himself as a Satyr, covering 
himself from head to foot with husks of Indian corn. He 



183 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

arrayed two women as verita^ble Furies : they had the hair 
parted, the face black as coal, the body clothed with two 
wolf skins; they were each aimed with a lever or a great 
stake. The Satyr, seeing them well equipped, promenades 
by our cabin, singing and howling with all his might. In 
the sequel he mounts upon the roof, he makes a thousand 
turns there, crying as if all had been lost. This done he 
descends, going gravely through all the town; the two 
Furies precede him and break all that they encounter with 
their staves. If it is true to say that all men have some 
grain of madness, inasmuch as 'the number of fools is in- 
definite,' it must be confessed that these people have each 
more than half an ounce. Yet this is not all. 

"Hardly had our Satyr and our Furies disappeared from 
our sight than behold a woman who threw herself into our 
cabin. She was armed with an arquebus, which she had 
obtained by her dream. She cried, howled, sang, saying 
she was going to war against the Nation of the Cat, that 
she would fight them and bring back prisoners, giving a 
thousand imprecations and a thousand maledictions, if this 
thing did not happen as she had dreamed. 

"A warrior followed this Amazon. He came in, bow and 
arrows in his hand, with a bayonet. He dances, he sings, 
he cries, he threatens ; then all at once throws himself upon 
a woman who had come in to see this comedy ; he points the 
bayonet at her throat; takes her by the hair, contenting 
himself by cutting off some, and then he retires to give 
place to a diviner, who had dreamed that he could divine 
all that any one had hidden." 

I need not quote further examples, but content myself 
with the good Father's conclusion. "Finally," he said, 
"this story would never be finished, if one wished to report 
all that they do during the three days and three nights that 
this folly lasts, with such a hubbub that one could scarcely 
find a moment to be in peace." 

The sacrifice of the white dog does not appear at this 
winter feast, but this is a graphic picture of Indian life at 
Onondaga less than three centuries ago. 

By v/ay of contrast I give Mr. Clark's account of the 
same feast, mostly as an eye-witness and probably about 
1844. 



\ 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 183 

WHITE DOG FEAST 

He observes that it "is celebrated late in the month of 
January or early in the month of February, according to 
the phasis of the moon. The Indian year is reckoned by 
moons, and this great national festival is held in the old 
moon nearest to the first of our own month February." 

Two sets of managers are appointed for this, with from 
ten to twenty young men in each, and these superintend 
everything. On the first day four or five managers from 
each set leave the council house and run, as fast as possible 
to every cabin, knocking on the doors and sides, and calling 
on the inmates to come to the council house and share in 
the festivities. These managers wear only a waist cloth, 
reaching to the knee, but have moccasins on their feet and 
plumes on their heads, their faces and bodies being painted. 
Fires are now extinguished in all cabins, the managers en- 
tering and scattering the ashes with a small wooden shovel. 
When the hearth is cleansed a new fire is kindled with flint 
and steel. The other managers are at the council house, 
firing guns and shouting to let the people know the feast 
has commenced. They welcome all comers and lead them 
to the council house. 

The second day the managers meet early at the council 
house for instructions. They are fantastically dressed and 
cany baskets to hold the gifts of the people. Their de- 
parture is announced by firing guns and shouts. Each 
manager carries a large turtle shell rattle which he uses in 
each cabin. Festivities continue at the council house while 
this preparation goes on. 

On the first of the last three days the managers wear 
masks, old blankets, and daub themselves with soot and 
grease. At every house they are more importunate than 
before, but are supposed to collect the sins of the people. 
"On the evening of this day they hold a most ludicrous 
dance, called by the white people 'the devil's dance,' in 
which they 'dance off the witches.' Nothing can appear 
more loathsome and abhorrent than do the participators in 
this dance. Covered with grease, coal dust and soot, dressed 
in old worn out rags of blankets, tattered buffalo robes, hair 
side out, with masks of paper, bark, and husks of corn ; add 



184 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

to this the yells and rude music of the savage, and indeed it 
may well be styled 'a dance of devils.' " 

The next day is one of preparation and of general re- 
joicing. Then comes the great sacrificial day. In great 
numbers the people flock to the council house. Large fires 
are built early in the morning, guns are fired and shouts 
are heard. The sacrificial wood is arranged near the coun- 
cil house, nearly half a cord in alternate layers crosswise. 
A near-by house is used for preparations for the day. A 
leader from each side is clothed in a long loose white shirt, 
and the other managers are arrayed according to office. 
The grand master of ceremonies or high priest's station is 
at the council house, where he remains, receiving reports 
and giving new directions. On this occasion grey headed 
Oh-he-nu, or Capt. Honnos held this post. One messenger, 
a woman, attracted special attention. Her new dress was 
of fine blue woolen cloth, and her leggings were adorned 
with silver brooches and small white beads. The lower 
part of the skirt was adorned in the same way. Over the 
whole was a mantle of blue cloth which swept the ground. 
Her two attendant maidens were likewise dressed. She su- 
perintended the feast. 

About nine oclock the managers rushed out, followed by 
two white dogs, painted with red figures and adorned with 
small belts of wampum, with feathers and ribbons, tied 
around their necks, legs and tails. A long rope, with a 
single slip knot in the center, was passed over the head of 
one. It was quickly suffocated when the managers pulled 
lustily on each end of the rope, after which it was hung up 
on a ladder against the house. The other had the same 
fate. Guns were fired, thirty or forty persons rushed out 
of the council house, gave three great yells and retired. 
Half an hour later the dogs were taken dov/n and carried 
into the house of preparation, where spectators were not 
admitted. 

From the managers the collective sins of the people were 
now transferred to the two white clad leaders, and thence 
to the dogs. These were placed on the shoulders of chosen 
bearers, and a procession was formed in double file. This 
moved slov/ly and silently around the house of preparation, 
through the two opposite doors of the council house and 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 188 

around it. There, meanwhile, the offerings had been hung 
on pegs around the room, presented to the head chief for 
his blessing and returned to their place, all this in a rever- 
ential way. 

When the dogs were brought in, the procession moved in 
single file three times around the platform before they 
were laid down. At each round the old chief gravely rose, 
placed his hands on the shoulders of the first bearer, and 
whispered something in his ear. Other chiefs did the same. 
The procession moved on and at the end of the third round 
the dogs vv^ere laid on the platform, around which the pro- 
cession still moved. 

Outside the pile had been fired and half consumed, and 
Capt. Honnos directed the bearers to take up the dogs, he 
himself leading as it moved in single file. The white robed 
leaders followed him, the canine bearers, the managers, 
and others as they could, all singing, as they marched 
around the council house to the burning pile. Thrice they 
moved around this, and then Capt. Honnos stopped on the 
west side, facing the cast and toward the fire, the leaders 
and bearers on his left hand. A prayer and chant, and the 
dogs were laid at his feet. Another prayer and chant, and 
one dog was cast on the burning pile. With like ceremonies 
the other followed, and gifts were thrown on the fire at 
intervals. When all were nearly consumed the procession 
returned to the council house, and thence the managers 
went to the house of preparation. 

Time brings changes, as we see in the two accounts 
already given. Jan. 18, 1894, I attended the concluding 
ceremonies of the White Dog feast at Onondaga, under the 
escort of Daniel La Fort, then acting as head chief. This 
day is called Koon-wah-tun-was, They are burning the dog. 
Late in the morning we went to the council house, where 
about thirty men and boys, and a dozen females were as- 
sembled. All the men wore their hats, and in the council 
house all had on their ordinary attire. At the smaller 
house, usually called the short house to distinguish it from 
the long house, the sedate John Green was gaudily feathered 
and dressed, and Thomas Webster, then keeper of the 
wampum, wore a feather head-dress. Both had some red 
paint; La Fort had none of either. The clans were divided 



186 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

as usual : the Wolf, Turtle, Beaver and Snipe in the long 
house ; the Bear, Deer, Hawk and Eel in the short house. 

A little before noon La Fort arose and began an address, 
to which there were frequent responses of "Ne-a!" a note 
of approval. He alone of the Indians uncovered his head, 
though most of them bowed. Perhaps half responded. A 
gun was heard, and a messenger from the short house en- 
tered, asking guesses on a dream. He stood facing the 
men, and they questioned him amid much merriment. A 
curious chant with responses followed this. A man arose 
to give another dream, and there was some more quiet fun. 
He sat down, and a woman came and whispered another 
dream in his ear. He rose and stated this, with a little 
more fun, and a messenger took it to the other house, to be 
solved there. A chant followed, with responses. Several 
boys were present with guns and pistols, and some of these 
now went out and fired them. 

There were cries outside and another messenger came. 
There was another chant, some keeping up an accompani- 
ment of "He! He!" He!" beating time with the feet, and 
ending with a long drawn out "Wo-o-o-o-a-a-ah," with a 
falling cadance. A short speech and guesses at the dream 
followed, with more laughter, and the same prolonged cry 
and falling cadence. This messenger retired with the boys, 
and there were again cries and firing without. Another 
messenger came, and this was several times repeated, while 
we heard similar chants from the other house. 

The council house stands nearly east and west, with op- 
posite doors in the center, differing in this from most 
others. The south door was opened as a procession started 
from the short house on the north side, chanting as it came. 
It consisted of John Green and two men, the last of whom 
bore the white basket which now represents the dog. Fifty 
years earlier two white dogs were consumed on a pile of 
wood outside; then but one; then this was dropped into a 
stove, and nov/ a v/hite basket takes its place. La Fort told 
me that this is because the sacred breed of dogs is extinct, 
but others simply say the present v\^ay is better. 

In the council house two benches were placed across the 
house, in front of the two stoves. On one of these, at the 
east or men's end, sat La Fort and four others. Two women 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 187 

took the opposite one. These are called "Ho-no-wi-yah Sa- 
na Ta-en-ya-wah-ke, "Those begging Ta-en-ya-wah-ke for 
the people." John Green, the leader of the procession, had 
a similar name, the prayers going to the Holder of the 
heavens through him. 

When the three men came in they placed the offerings of 
tobacco, etc., on the floor between the two benches, as well 
as the basket representing the dog, and marched around 
these, chanting. As the leader came along the man at the 
south end of the bench stopped him, rising and placing his 
hand on his shoulder, while saying a few words. This 
might be, as of old, "Well, my cousin, what would think if 
I gave a dog to the Great Spirit?" or "If I should give some 
tobacco?" and as through all the offerings. Green re- 
sponded, "Ne-ah-we-hah, Thank you," and the procession 
moved around again. The second man stopped him as did 
the other men and women in turn, at each successive cir- 
cuit. They spoke for the people to him, and he to the Great 
Spirit for them. 

After this John Green made quite a long address or 
prayer, intoned and with responses. Part of the time all 
joined in the responses and chants. Thomas Webster also 
made a similar address. The old "He! He!" accompani- 
ment came in at times. The march being resumed, the pro- 
cession stopped before the north door for another chant and 
response, and then passed out, bearing all the offerings. 

While they were gone La Fort made another address, 
keeping his hat on. In fact I was the only one there with 
uncovered head, my hat being convenient for making notes 
in a quiet way. A chant was again heard from the other 
house, and the procession returned thence, followed by all 
who were there, marching through the north door, across 
the room and out of the south door. The men in the council 
house followed next and then the women, turning to the 
east as they pressed outside, past the east end, back to the 
east end of the short house, along its north side and west 
end, and back through the north door of the council house, 
around the eastern stove. Three baskets were now carried, 
with a smaller basket or bundle, and all were adorned with 
ribbons. The march was slow and solemn, and at the end 
all stood. 



188 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Thomas Webster was on the southeast of the stove, fac- 
ing it, with William Buck at his right. Green faced them 
on the northwest of the stove. Buck cried "Kwe!" three 
times, very loudly and sharply, but with intervals. This is 
the ancient cry of joy or sorrow, according to intonation. 
Then cam.e a chant by all. The stove door was opened and 
tv/o of the baskets were thrust in. Webster made an in- 
toned address, followed by a chant, the stove was again 
opened and the tobacco and other offerings went into the 
fire. All stood around, chanting with bowed heads. Green 
followed this with a prolonged "0-hone-o-o-o-o-nu-eh!" 
Still standing on the nothwest he chanted again, and there 
was the usual response. All but the three leaders then sat 
down, and there came the ancient "He ! He !" with the meas- 
ured tramp of feet by those on the benches. Green marched 
around the stove once, keeping time with this. William 
Buck then made an address, standing on the east side with 
a chant and response, and marching around once chanting. 

A chant with the accompanying "He!" followed from one 
of those sitting down, who came forward and marched a 
little way. Another did the same, marching slowly, both 
having the same response. Webster again made an intoned 
address, standing on the southeast, after which John 
Green led the short house procession back to it again. 
Soon the remaining women went out and then the men, and 
the great ceremony of the day was over. My friend and I 
were the only white persons present. 

I add some other notes resulting from questions I asked. 
The Onondaga name of this feast closely corresponds to 
that of the old Dream Feast of the 17th century. It is Ko- 
no-why-yah-ha in the feminine; for men, Hoo-no-why-yah- 
ha, and is, properly, the asking or begging feast. This old 
feature is still prominent, as I have shown. A woman asks 
for something and a man speaks for her, as is the Iroquois 
custom. "You hear! She pleads (with a rumble like a 
bull). Guess what it is!" She has already told him her 
dream or desire. Some one says, perhaps in jest: "May 
be she'll like this!" One house guesses for the other, and 
they have some fun out of it. At last the right guess is 
made, and the response is: "Neah-wen-ha ; Thank you." 
All take part in this from the two houses. 

Challenges are also made for other and future feasts, to 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 189 

enliven them. One says : "I can beat any one running." 
Another replies: "I am the man you are looking for;" and 
the race is arranged later, the house of the challenger fur- 
nishing bread. 

I have summarized these three accounts for direct con- 
trast, but have heard nothing of the famous White Dog 
feast in many years. 



OTHER FEASTS 



The annual dead feast is 0-kee-we. At this the female 
keepers of the Faith are appointed, who are called 0-nah- 
ta-hone-tah. They are many and men hold a like office. 
The dead feast, ten days after death, is called Ah-tya-hak- 
koon-sa, and that coming from dreams is the same. I was 
in a house one day, with an Indian friend, when an old 
woman asked him to attend a dead feast there. "But," I 
said, "she is not dead; why does she want a dead feast?" 
The dead had told her, in a dream, to hold this feast. It 
would help her. 

The other annual Onondaga feasts are that of the Maple, 
Planting, Strawberry, Green Bean, Green Corn and Har- 
vest feasts. I omit the long Onondaga names of these. 
Among the Senecas Morgan omits the Bean feast, and 
others are now obsolete. 

Among personal feasts the most famous has been the 
eat all feast, where great preparations were made and the 
guests were expected to eat all that was set before them. 
The most famous of those here was the one at Onondaga 
lake, March 20, 1658. Radisson gave a graphic account of 
this,' being present, but I v/ill not follow his antique spell- 
ing. They began with a dozen great kettles of beaten In- 
dian corn, dressed with mince meat, and are thankful for 
generous hosts. "They eat as so many wolves, having eyes 
bigger than bellies ; they are rare at it without any noise." 
Two kettles of wild geese, two of wild ducks, two of wild 
pigeons, then salmon and eels in profusion. "Were they to 
burst, here they will show their courage." Bears' meat and 
venison follow, and at last "The wild men can hold out no 
longer; they must sleep. They cry out, Skennon, enough; 



190 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

we can bear no more." And so the French get away, for 
the Onondagas succumbed at the eat all feast. They came 
hungry and were gorged. 



HANDSOME LAKE AND THE NEW RELIGION 

Mr. Arthur C. Parker said of this, that "Ga-i-wi-u, mean- 
ing Glad Tidings, is the religion spread among the Iroquois 
by Ganeodaiu, called the Prophet. He began his preaching 
in 1800, and was ultimately successful in utterly extin- 
guishing the ancient Iroquois religion. His teachings are 
a curious blending of ancient ideas and beliefs with the 
ideas and beliefs of modern times. His teachings are still 
preached by six preachers among the Iroquois of New 
York and Canada. Each preacher has memorized the en- 
tire teachings." He adds first a translation to the Seneca 
text, which I have followed. His second is slightly differ- 
ent and has 130 sections. 

On Handsome Lake's monument at Onondaga is this in- 
scription : 

"Ga-nya-di-yoh 

Author of the Present 

Indian Religion 

Born at 

Ga-noh-wau-gus 

Genesee Co. N. Y. 1735 

Died Aug. 10, 1815 

At Onondaga Reservation 

Handsome Lake." 

This is on the site of the old council house, beneath which 
he was buried. 

Gaiwiu begins with the prophet's trance and revelation. 
The account is followed by over ninety sections of direct 
teaching, concluding with his death. Three angels reveal 
nearly all rules, many of them very good, but the fourth 
defers his coming to the last. The account of this meeting 
is curious. "He held up his hands, and they were pierced, 
and in his breast was a spear wound. His hands and feet 
were torn with nails. It was true as could be seen. And 
the blood was fresh. Then said the man : They murdered 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION IQl 

me because of unbelief. So I have come home, and I v/ill 
shut the doors of heaven, that all may see me when the 
eaith passes away. Then will people cry unto me and they 
will crave my mercy. Then in this way will I come; my 
face will be very sober, and I will turn it toward my people." 

The sections on drinking are good, causing a speedy 
reformation, and the one on short marriages might well be 
followed by our o^vn people. "Now God ordained that 
when people marry it is for a lifetime, forever, as long as 
the people live, and are married till parted by death." 

Section 49 treats of a dispute in heaven between two 
parties. "One is the Great Ruler, the Creator, and the 
other is the evil-minded, the devil. You v\'ho live on earth 
do not know the things of heaven. 

"Now the devil said: 'I am the ruler of earth, because 
when I command, I speak but once and man obeys.' Then 
said the Great Ruler : 'The earth is mine. I have created 
it, and you helped in no part.' 

"Now the devil answered : 'I acknowledge that you have 
created the earth, and that I helped in no part, but when I 
say to men. Obey me! they obey, but they do not hear you.' 
And the Great Ruler said: 'The children are mine, for 
they have never done evil.' The devil answering, said: 
'Nay, the children are mine, for when I say to one. Pick up 
that stick and strike your fellow, they obey me. All the 
children are mine.' 

"Then w^as the Great ruler sad, and he said : 'Once more 
I Avill send my messenger, and say how I feel. In this way 
I will claim my o^^ni.' And the devil said : 'It will not be 
long before they transgress the words of the prophecy. I 
will destroy it with one w^ord, for they will do what 1 say. 
It is very true that I delight in the name Ha-nis-se-o-no. It 
is true that wiiosoever loves my name, though he be on the 
other side of the earth, will find me at his back instantly.' 

"Now the Great Ruler spoke to the four angels and said, 
'Tell men that at present they must not call me HaAveniu, 
the Great Ruler, for the devil thinks himself the ruler. So, 
whosoever is converted to my vvay must say, when he calls 
upon me or speaks my name, Hodianokda Hediohe, our 
Creator. And whoever speaks of the devil must say Segoyi- 



192 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

natha (the pimisher). Then will the devil know that you 
know who he is.' " 

In Section 92 "he saw a house suspended midway be- 
tween the sky and clouds. Around the house was a porch 
with a fence about it. A man was walking on the porch, 
and a kwenissia (penny dog) was following him. The 
man was rejoicing, and he was a white man." He was told 
that he was "the first and oldest President, and he is now 
happy." He is the only white man who ever came so near 
heaven. It is said there was once a condition in which the 
thirteen fires and the king were in trouble. The thirteen 
fires were victorious, and this man won the victory from 
the king. And when he said : 'You have overpowered me, 
and now I release all that was in my control. It is your 
privilege to do with these Indians, who are my helpers, as 
you please. Let them be meat for your sacrifice.' Then 
said the President, 'They may live, and return to their 
places; and their lands are theirs and they are independ- 
ent!' It is said that he has done a great thing. He has 
done this that a people might enjoy freedom." 

In this I miss much that was said in the preaching at 
Onondaga in August, 1894, and it differs also from Mor- 
gan's repoi-t at an earlier day. The summons to a religious 
council is by white wampum instead of purple, and ten long 
strings of white wampum are held by an attendant, while 
the preacher recites part of Gaiwiu from ten o'clock to 
noon Morgan said: "There is a popular belief among the 
Iroquois that the early part of the day is dedicated to the 
Great Spirit, and the after part to the spirits of the dead ; 
consequently their religious services should properly be 
concluded at meridian. They still retain the theory, and to 
this day religious discourses are seldom continued after 
noon." 

Mr. Parker says, in his introduction to "The Code of 
Handsome Lake": "The time consumed in reciting the 
Gaiwiio is always three days. At noon, each day, the ex- 
positor stops, for the sun is in midheaven and ready to de- 
scend. All sacred things must be sedetcia, early in the 
morning. Before sunrise each morning of the preaching, 
the preacher stands at the fireplace in the long house and 
sings a song known as the Sun Song. This is in obedience 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 193 

to a command of the prophet, who promised that it should 
insure good weather for the day," "The wind always dies 
down when I sing that song," affirms Chief Cornplanter. 

During the recital of the Gaiwiio the preacher stands at 
the fireplace, which serves as the altar. Sitting beside him 
is an assistant, or some officer of the rites, v.iio holds a 
white wampum strand. A select congregation sits on 
benches, placed across the long house, but the majority use 
the double row of seats around the walls." 

The stated preaching is in September and midwinter. 
Since Mr. Parker edited the Code two of the six preachers 
have died. 

Commissioner Dearborn, at the Buffalo Creek reserva- 
tion, 1838, speaks of Handsome Lake as then residing on 
the Tonawanda reservation, mistaking his representative 
for him. He mentions another at Buffalo, called Ne-an-wis- 
tan-on. *'The illustrious prophet of this reservation, dreams 
like the patriarchs of old and sees visions. Since the ques- 
tion of emigrating to the west has been agitated in the 
tribe, and very recently, this learned pagan reports that he 
went to hell, in one of his spiritual nocturnal excursions. 
He passed over an immense prairie, and at the distant end 
beheld an enormous stone edifice, without doors or win- 
dows, but the guide who accompanied him — being a special 
messenger from the Great Spirit— knocked against the 
wall and instantly an opening was made, from which issued 
a blaze that ascended hundreds of feet above the roofs, and 
he beheld within huge potash kettles, filled with boiling oil 
and molten lead, and there were the wicked, rising and 
falling and tumbling over in the bubbling fluids ; and ever 
and anon, as the heads of some were thro^\Tl above the top 
of the kettles, they gave a horrid yell and doNMi they 
plunged again. There, he was told, would be punished all 
the chiefs who advised emigration." 



CONSTITUTION OF THE FIVE NATIONS 

This curious document, also edited by Mr. Parker, v.-as 
issued in 1916. He said, "The two principal manuscripts 
that form the basis of this work were found in the Six 



194 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Nations Reservation, Ontario, Canada, in 1910. The first 
manuscript was a lengthy account of the Dekanawida 
legend and an account of the Confederate Iroquois laws. 
This material has been brought together by Seth Newhouse, 
a Mohawk, who has expended a large amount of time and 
given the subject a leng-thy study. His account, v/ritten in 
Indian English, was submitted to Albert Cusick, a New 
York Onondaga. . . . Mr. Cusick was employed for more 
than a month in correcting the Newhouse manuscript, until 
he believed the form in which it is now presented fairly 
correct, and at least as accurate as a free translation could 
be made. The second manuscript was compiled by the 
chiefs of tlcie Six Nations council, and in the form here pub- 
lished has been reviewed and corrected by several of their 
own number." 



WAMPUM BELTS 



Mr. Newhouse came to me with these documents, but I 
had completed my ten years work for the State and re- 
ferred him to others. Their greatest value, it seems to me, 
is in the presei-vation of some curious legends — often con- 
tradictory — and in the references to figures of speech and 
some odd customs whose date is easily shown. As to wam- 
pum, I have handled too much to have faith in the remote 
age of any of Iroquois origin, save that found on their de- 
serted sites. It came to them with the white man. From 
the belts illustrating the Constitution I will give two in- 
stances. First, the two large covenant belts which I bought 
at Onondaga for the State Museum in 1898. These are the 
widest belts known. The one of 50 rows is entitled the 
"Great Belt of the Confederacy, symbolizing the Gayanes- 
shagowa as an ever growing tree." This was not the On- 
ondaga name. The interpretation of 1886 was ''The second 
belt used by the principal chief of the Six Nations, very old." 
Mr. T. Donaldson's note is similar: "The wing mat used 
by the head man to shield him from the dust while presid- 
ing at the council." The companion belt is of 45 rows, and 
in this case is entitled "Belt of the covenant. Displayed by 
the speaker of the confederate council." 

There are good figures of both these belts in Mr. Parker's 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 196 

Iroquois Mj-ths and Legends. In that of the widest his 
footnote reads: "Wing or Dust Fan of the president of the 
council. This is an Onondaga national belt and the largest 
known. The design is said to represent an endlessly grow- 
ing tree, which symbolizes the perpetuity of the league." 

On the other he has two footnotes: the first, below the 
page of print, reads, "Ot-to-tar-ho or To-ta-da-ho became 
the first presiding sachem of the confederacy. The wam- 
pum belt commemorating him is second only in size to the 
Wing or Carpet belt of the league. Both belts are in the 
State Museum." The second note is beneath the figure of 
the belt: "To-ta-da-ho belt — sometimes called the Prese- 
dentia. It is the second largest belt known. The series of 
diamonds in the center is said to represent a covenant chain 
always to be kept bright." While it is not the original 
great colonial covenant chain belt, often described, the de- 
sign is appropriate for a league of some kind. 

Neither of these great belts show marks of age, though 
both have been neatlj^ shortened. Both are nicely made on 
small buckskin thongs, with a hard red thread, and ap- 
parently by one person. Their modern origin is at once 
evident to any careful observer, if there v/ere no further 
proof. In February, 1756, nearly 600 of the Iroquois Vv^ere 
at Fort Johnson, Red Head, of Onondaga, being speaker. 
He said : "Look upon this Belt. [This Belt was the largest 
ever given, upon it was wrought the sun by way of the 
emblem of Light and some figures representing the Six 
Nations : it was intended to signify that they now saw ob- 
jects in their proper Light and that they were fully con- 
vinced of the truth of every thing proposed] as a pledge of 
our inviolable attachment to you. . . . We shall send this 
belt to the Senecas that from thence it may be conveyed 
to the remotest nations. 

At the same place, June 19, 1757, "The Senecas spread 
a prodigious large Belt upon the floor, of 30 rows broad 
of wampum, with a figure of of the sun in the middle and 
the Six' Nations at one end. They told Sir William this 
belt they had made use of to invite some nations of Indians 
to remove nearer to them and join their confederacy. That 
they had sent to all the scattered Indians of the Six Nations 
to return and live in their own country," etc. It is evident 



196 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

that if this was the largest belt then known to the Onon- 
dagas, the two I bought of them did not then exist. 

The other belt, now sometimes called that of Hiawatha, 
and v/ith a new interpretation to make it appear old, is a 
well known Onondaga belt with a heart in the center, and 
originally having at least three nations on each side, shown 
by the connecting links. The mythical plan of having all 
nations in the confederacy utterly failed. A seventh nation 
did propose to enter the League in 1723, but thought better 
of it. 

That a constitution of 117 sections was, at the very out- 
set, adopted by five bodies of hitherto hostile people, hardly 
seems reasonable to me. The present provisions for voting 
in Canada, certainly are not those that appear in the early 
history of New York. 

How they should sit in council is a matter of etiquette, 
and might require long and grave deliberation, but I hardly 
think they would have made a law about placing a stick 
across the door to show that no one was at home. The 
Iroquois were given to sudden hostile outbreaks, and we 
hear nothing of three successive warnings till 1753. Yet 
the Constitution says this was the law 150 years earlier. 
In the same way we can point out the date, very nearly, 
of the present arrangement of the Elder and Younger Bro- 
thers. In 1746, at a council, the official interpreter was ill, 
and it was thought best to have a chief give the address 
to the Indians. 

Colden said, "At first a Mohawk Sachem was pitched 
upon; but the Sachems themselves told us. That for some 
time past a kind of Party Division among the Six Nations 
had subsisted : That the Mohawks, Onondages and Senekas 
form'd one Party; and the Oneydoes, Tuscaroras, and 
Cayugas, the other: That, as the Mohawks might be sus- 
pected to be more partial to the English, it would be of 
more Use to employ one of the other Party; and an Oneydo 
Sachem was proposed for that Purpose." 

The Iroquois were not exempt from the common rule, 
that laws are made as needs arise. At some time, near 
or remote, these 117 rules have been in use here or in 
Canada, but not all in the beginning, and that beginning 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 197 

was not earlier than 1590. Like the Onondagas I prefer 
ten years later. 



GOVERNMENT AND LANDS 

The government of the Iroquois is a pure oligarchy. In 
his chapter on governments, in his League of the Iroquois, 
Mr. L. H. Morgan concedes this, specifying his reasons "for 
regarding the government of the Iroquois as an oligarchy 
rather than an aristocracy." All early writers, however, 
recognize the latter as well. He concludes that "The oligar- 
chical form of government is not without its advantages, 
although indicative of a low state of civilization." In his 
able argument he overlooks one feature resulting from his 
classification of principal chiefs. The Onondagas have eight 
clans and fourteen chiefs and three of these clans are un- 
represented in the grand council. Two of the Cayuga and 
two of the" Seneca clans have the same luck. There are 
other ways in which a large portion of three of the Five 
Nations are completely disfranchised. Their only remedy 
seems to be in demanding their rights in some orderly 
way but they must do it themselves. Then they can call 
on the United States to see that they have them. 

There are now three classes of chiefs. Principal chiefs, 
who are chosen by the women of certain families in the 
clans to which they belong. After being installed these 
m.ay be deposed in an orderly way by those who have 
chosen them, the other clans having nothing to say. War 
chiefs are also appointed as personal assistants to the.-se 
when there is no war to engage their attention. When 
we have war they are always the foremost to volunteer in 
our hour of need. There are Pine Tree chiefs, some of 
whom I have known. With wonderful foresight they were 
provided for in the 3oth section of the Constitution, as 
follows : — 

■ "Should any man of the Nation assist with special ability 
or show great interest in the affairs of the Nation, if he 
proves himself wise, honest and worthy of confidence, the 
Confederate Lords may elect him to a seat with them, and 
he may sit in the Confederate Council. He shall be pro- 
claim.ed a Pine Tree sprung up for the Nation, and be in- 



198 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

stalled as such at the next assembly for the installation 
of Lords. Should he ever do any thing contrary to the 
rules of the Great Peace, he may not be deposed from office 
— no one shall cut him down — but thereafter every one 
shall be deaf to his voice and his advice. Should he resign 
his seat and title no one shall prevent him. A Pine Tree 
chief has no authority to name a successor, nor is his 
office hereditary." 

At Onondaga a principal chief is called Ho-yah-nah Ha- 
son-no-wah-ne, Good man with big name, and is now com- 
monly called chief and formerly captain. In Canada he is 
a Confederate Lord. At Onondaga a pine tree chief is 
said to have his roots in heaven. 



MODERN QUESTIONS 

Government is connected with the tenure of land in many 
ways, and the Iroquois women have always claimed that, 
as they till the land, they are the owners. This title might 
not hold good now; but in pioneer days two women, in 
every nation, were guardians of their rights. Close by, the 
Onondaga reservation has special features. It was not re- 
served for them but by them. They hold it by the recog- 
nized right of conquest. No matter how long one of an- 
other nationality has lived there, he owns not a foot of land. 
The house, the fence, the farming tools may be his, but 
nothing more. If it were sold or apportioned, only the 
Onondagas there would have a share. 

Some years ago the question of apportionment came up. 
In one case, and probably many, it was linked with another 
— that of nationality. A progressive friend of mine had 
a good farm, house and barns, a capable wife and indus- 
trious children. His wife was an Oneida, and therefore, 
as children are of the mother's clan and nation, all his 
children were Oneidas. This was the way he reasoned: 
"I v/ill get my share, but it will be less than I have now. 
My wife will get nothing. My children will have not an 
acre. No apportionment for me." Was he not right? 

There is the question of citizenship. It ought not to be 
forced on the Indian. He himself is preparing for it un- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 199 

conscioush^ or the reverse, but one thing influences him 
greatly. He shrinks from taxation and we are not fond 
of it ourselves. A good friend of mine, anxious for Indian 
welfare, said one day to one of my Indian friends: 'Why 
doesn't Dr. Beauchamp, when he comes here, talk to the 
Indians about being citizens, instead of collecting stories, 
songs, pictures, words and curios?" 

Well, I had never thought it my duty, and don't think 
it was, yet. My friend did not excuse me but answered 
for himself in this way: "We don't want to be citizens. 
I would have to pay taxes. I have a little place where I 
raise what I want, but I am not very well. Some time 
I'll be sick and have no money for taxes. Next year it 
may be the same, and the next, and then I'll lose my little 
place in which I have taken such comfort." He was not 
the only one who takes this view. 

I wish to say a little more on the land question. A great 
deal has been said on this and on the unfairness with which 
the Indians have been treated in the purchase of land, 
and such instances there have been, beyond all question. 
The Onondagas draw some annuities from the State, but 
these are not gifts, as some people think. They are the 
interest on what we still owe for those lands, just as the 
United States is statedly paying interest on Liberty bonds. 

Now there was a certain land or water purchase close by 
Syracuse made by Sir William Johnson in 1752, of which 
he was not specially proud. The French were then schem- 
ing for a fort at Onondaga lake and he interfered for the 
public good. He had a conference with the Onondagas and 
they granted him the lake and the land for two miles around 
it. They signed a deed and he paid them 350 pounds before 
witnesses. That was $1750 with money worth more than 
nov/. No wonder the Assembly refused to buy a big swamp 
far avv^ay in the wilderness at that price. They granted 
him the tract, but it was a dead loss. Not to the Onondagas, 
though, for they had been paid for it. It became a part of 
the salt reservation in later days, and they had a second 
payment. Those acres will be worth something some day, 
yet, but for the white man they would have been as value- 
less as they were centuries ago. In fact it is but recently 
that any one would have thought these swamps a good in- 
vestment. 



200 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

John Goldie, the botanist, was at Salina in August, 1819, 
and was thoroughly disgusted with the place. He went 
thence to Sackett's Harbor, crossing Oneida river by ferry 
at Brewerton. This is his comment on the road beyond: 
"The land here does not seem to be v/orth much. I have 
seen farms to-day that I would not take as a present, they 
are so barren." This was sometimes the case on the Mili- 
tary Tract. Men looked at their grants and turned on 
their heels. How high a rate of interest has Cicero Sv/amp 
paid? The Cowaselon Swamp in Madison Co. is becom- 
ing a fertile garden, but it was a dreary place when I 
first saw it. It is not fair to the white man to measure 
wilderness prices by present day values. In November, 1921, 
the Post-Standard said, of a section north of Syracuse: 
"Turkeys are generally raised there, for the land is too 
poor for much of any thing else." 

You will remember the cost of surveying and mapping 
the wilderness, the clearing of land and laying out of roads, 
and you may find out that the white man really paid a 
pretty good price for unimproved land. He was the one 
who gave it real value. The question is not what is it 
worth now, but what was it worth then. 

Johnson had another experience in land buying in 1768, 
when he settled the line of property" or boundary line be- 
tween the whites and Indians to the south of Fort Stanwix, 
by which all the land east of the line became Government 
property. The presents cost over 10,460 pounds, beside 
other expenses. From near Fort Stanwix the line ran gen- 
erally south nearly to the Pennsylvania line. Some thought 
it cost too much. 



ORNAMENTS 



The white man's beads at once attracted all Indians, and 
their bead work has ever since been famous. Some of this 
is wonderful. Before the white man came the Iroquois 
were restricted to rude stone beads, disk shell beads made 
flat and thin and easily perforated, occasional native pearl 
beads, perforated by a copper awl. These they obtained 
but did not make. They also made larger rude shell beads 
of the columella of a sea shell having a natural perfora- 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 201 

tion. Occasionally fresh water shells were perforated and 
strung, as in the legend of Hiawatha. These were rare. 
In their earlier embroidery they used colored porcupine 
quills or elk's or moose hair. Some large, beautiful and 
quite rare glass beads are found on their recent sites. No 
wonder they were prized. 

The teeth of the elk, bear and wolf were used for collars 
and necklaces. A small and perforated bone of the deer 
furnished bangles for the skirts of women, but these gave 
place to cones of sheet copper or perforated thimbles. At 
first brass brooches were made for the adornment of both 
men and women. At the close of the 17th century these 
gave place to finer forms made of silver, which were lavishly 
used up to the middle of the nineteenth century. Silver 
head bands of great beauty, bracelets, ear-rings, large and 
small crosses, and beads were among these, but all are now 
very rare. The best were made by white men, but Indians 
were soon skilled in the simpler forms, 

I need not novv^ describe the more useful articles, as the 
mortar and pestle, cradle board, wooden spoons and minor 
articles, but most of these have disappeared before later 
things. The Onondaga reservation is quite a modern place 
now. I recently attended an Oneida picnic there and the 
young men and maidens were quite up to date in dress, 
and the table in all things good. 



RELATIONSHIP 



Relationship is on the mother's side, as said before, chil- 
dren being of her clan, family and nation. Thus the cele- 
brated Logan was the son of an Oneida chief, but his mother 
was a Cayuga, and so Logan's monument has an appropriate 
place in Fort Hill cemeteiy, Auburn, N. Y. Sagoyewatha, 
(He keeps them awake) or Red Jacket, has a Cayuga name 
and was born at Canoga, a Cayuga town, probably having 
a Cayuga father, but his mother was a Seneca and that 
determined his nationality. He was known to many as the 
Cow Killer. 

On the father's side Onondagas are simply Ah-kaa-kah- 
to-ne-ha-no, i. e. On my father's side, the paternal relation- 



202 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

ship being recognized. Albert Cusick's father was a Tus- 
carora Turtle, his mother an Onondaga Eel. The Turtles 
on the Onondaga reservation gave him a double portion 
of cakes at New Year's, as being his fathers. "Hello ! here 
is our child. Give him more." They have the custom or 
did have of going around at New Year's for cakes, etc., 
saying "New Yah," or "Ne-ah," for New Year. They prob- 
ably speak better English now, as they have progressed 
since I wrote this note. At that time a whole family might 
go together. 

On relationship my sister had a curious experience. She 
volunteered to take our church school there for a few weeks 
in order that the teacher might have a needed vacation. 
The catechism was taught and the children would say, 
"Thou shalt honor thy mother and thy father." Probably 
the mother did deserve first place. 

There was another custom but recently passed away — 
that of clan burial. The wife would be buried with her 
family, not with her husband. I should have also said that 
a man must not marry into his own clan, the relationship 
being considered too close. 



ODDS AND ENDS 



I add, in a general way, some notes from Albert Cusick. 
He said the old Tuscaroras had a custom which they thought 
would keep their teeth white and strong through life, a 
thing much to be desired. A man caught a snake and held 
it by the head and tail. Then he bit it through, all the way 
from the head to the tail. This kept the teeth from decay. 
If you try it please follow directions. 

George Fish used medicine in trapping, and would not 
have the head of a muskrat broken lest it should bring 
bad luck. 

John Obadiah, before hunting deer, used to boil green 
osier bark, and, for a few days, drink enough to make him 
vomit. The deer would then be so tame that he could almost 
catch them. Even his gun at times must not be touched 
by a woman. For a long time his name was 0-skon-tah, 
Bark, but at a Green Corn dance he had it changed to 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 203 

Nyah-sa-kwa-ta, Crane or Heron. Names were often 
changed and Cusick's first name he gave to me. 

He said, "I do not think the Indians have any idea of un- 
lucky days; only when they see a large circle around the 
sun or moon, they say it is going to snow if in winter ; if 
in summer, rain." 

He added, "The only thing I ever heard the Indian say 
about Candlemas day is, that when we have February thun- 
der it wakes the bears and woodchucks, but not on a cer- 
tain day; as we may not have thunder till most of March 
has passed." 

The evil eye : "I have heard some of the old Indians say, 
'Just watch that person's eye.' If it be smoky he is a 
witch." The Indians call it Ho-ka-ah-ta-ken, or buraed 
eye. 

In 1893, he wrote, "I do not think there is much difference 
in the customs at death from those among the w^hites. The 
difference might be that the Indians sit up all night to 
watch the dead : if it be a Christian death the Indians watch 
by singing with note-books and having a late supper. But 
if a pagan dies, the pagan Indians gamble while watching 
the dead, and sometimes they have a dance." 



THE WOMEN'S NIGHT DANCE 

He told me two stories of the Night Dance, as a pleasant 
reminiscence. It resembles the 0-kee-weh, but comes often 
and at pleasure, and is managed by women alone. One or 
more chickens are boiled or roasted, and are known as the 
"head" of the feast. At a certain time the boys try to 
steal this head, -diich is their lawful privilege if they can 
do it, and he was always ready to take part in the fun. 
I presume those good old times are gone. 

Usually a kettle is placed in the middle of the circle 
of women and the chicken is in the soup. If it is roasted 
another receptacle is found. One night, at a private house 
there was no kettle in this circle and the women gathered 
around the pantry door. The boys took in the situation. 
There was no getting through the pantry door, but an ac- 



204 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

tive lad tried the window, found two roast chickens in a 
pan, secured some corn, bread and other good things, and 
got off unobserved. They carried their booty to the green 
by the council house and there ate it all. 

"Then, according to custom, they began to caw like crows. 
The women said, 'You are all frauds. You haven't found 
the head. We have that all safe.' The boys slipped the pan 
of bones back into the pantry and the dances went on. A 
speech was made. One head was to go to the speaker and 
the other to the singers. They opened the door and noth- 
ing appeared." When they got there the pantry was bare, 
and so the poor women had none. 

"There was a dance at Mary Green's one night, and the 
boys ran about, imitating hungry crows. A circle of women 
surrounded the stove in the center of the room, and the 
head v/as in a big kettle on the stove. It seemed inaccessible 
and the soup was hot. Several boys tried to creep on their 
hands and knees through the circle and failed. At last 
one got through in the dark interval, and made off with 
the chicken in a pail. The crows were soon heard again." 
This dance is also for the sick and has similar tunes. When 
they hear of one the boys get together and plan how they 
may steal the head. At intervals the lights are put out 
and then is their chance. The older people say, "Get it if 
you can." 



HIDDEN IN THE HUSKS 
Among the Onondagas, it is said, were formerly persons 
called Ta-na-se-weh-too, Hidden in the husks. These v/ere 
said to be "covered in the husk" if kept out of the sight 
of all persons, and thus they were preserved absolutely 
pure from birth, being hidden at once by the mother. If 
a boy and girl had been thus hidden they were m.arried, 
if possible, when of suitable age. Cusick knew of no such 
cases, but it was a tradition that it was an old custom. 
Hewitt uses a different Onondaga word and for a differing 
traditional usage. Dehanoadon is defined by him as. He is 
defended by down, and Deienoadon, She is defended by 
down. This general term is down fended, cat-tail down 
being scattered about their abode as a means of detection. 
I consider this as unfounded in fact, though appearing in 
tv/o varying Onondaga forms. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 205 

THE STARS 

I give, from Hewitt's Seneca creation m>i;h, the story 
of the origin of the stars: 

"After the woman found a place on the turtle, and grass 
and shrubs appeared, she stood up and said, 'Now will come 
the sun, which shall be called En-dek-ha (pertaining to the 
day).' It appeared, and when it set it was dark again. 
Then she said, 'Now will come the stars like spots in the 
sky.' They came. Then she told what some should be called. 
Toward the north were several, and she said, 'These shall 
be called Ni-a-gwai had-i-she, (They are pursuing the 
bear).' Then she looked to the east and said, 'A large star 
will be there, rising usually before daylight, and it shall be 
called Tgen-den-wit-'ha (It brings the day).' She pointed 
to another group, saying, 'That shall be called Gat-gwa-da 
(The group visible). That will be a sign of the coming 
spring.' Then she said of the Pleiades, 'That group shall 
be called De-hon-nont-gwen. (They are dancing) .' Another 
she named I-en-i-u-ci-ot. (She is sitting).' Of another 
group she said, 'These shall go with them and be called 
Nan-ga-ni-a-gon Ga-sa-do. (Beaver that spreads its skin). 
When mxen travel by night they will watch this group'." 
To others she gave names. The Onondagas call the stars 
0-jis-ta-noo-kwa, or Spotted in the sky. 

Mrs. E. A. Smith gives the story of the Pleiades and some 
others. That of the Great Bear follows: "A party of 
hunters were once in pursuit of a bear, when they were at- 
tacked by a monster stone giant, and all but three destroyed. 
The three, together with the bear, were carried by invisible 
spirits up into the sky, where the bear can still be seen, 
pursued by the first hunter with his bow, the second with 
the kettle, and the third, who, farther behind, is gathering 
sticks. Only in fall do the arrows of the hunter pierce the 
bear, when his dripping blood tinges the autumn foliage. 
Then for a time he is invisible, but afterward reappears." 
The main part of this tale appeared centuries ago. Two 
more from Mrs. Smith follow. 

"An old man, despised and rejected by his people, took 
his bundle and staff and went up into a high mountain, 
where he began singing the death chant. Those below who 
were watching him, saw him slowly rise into the air, hi3 



266 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

chant ever growing fainter and fainter, until it finally 
ceased as he took his place in the heavens, where his stoop- 
ing figure, staff and bundle have ever since been visible, 
and are pointed out as Na-ge-tci, (the old man) . 

"An old woman, gifted with the powers of divination, was 
unhappy because she could not also foretell when the world 
would come to an end. For this she was transported to the 
moon, where to this day she is clearly to be seen weaving 
a forehead strap. Once a month she stirs the boiling kettle 
of hominy before her, during which occupation the cat, ever 
by her side, unravels her net, and so she must continue until 
the end of time, for never until then will her work be 
finished." 

Mrs. Smith has also a brief story about the north star, 
Ti-yn-sou-da-go-er, the star that never moves. 

The old Onondagas would not hang up their wet moc- 
casins to dry, for they said the deer would mistake these 
for plenty of meat and would not allow themselves to be 
shot. If a deer sees a person, and stops and snorts or barks 
at him, it is a sign of some relative's death. If a horse 
runs avv^ay snorting it is the same. If a muskrat upsets 
the trap without getting into it, and covers it with earth, 
there will be death in the family. 

Sometimes an Onondaga family may cover the looking 
glass or turn it to the wall when there is a death in the 
house, not from superstition but to show that they feel 
so bad that they do not care how they look. When Capt. 
Samuel George died, the clock was stopped and an apron 
thrown over it. 



. ONONDAGA MIGRATIONS 

■' In Clark's Onondaga are some notes of interest on 
6arly migrations. He said : "Among the earliest traditions 
of the Onondagas, it is noted that they at first came from 
the North many hundred years ago, and once inhabited a 
region along the northern banks of St. Lawrence ( and that 
straggling parties of hunters isolated themselves in the 
country since occupied by the Six Nations. That in process 
of time the remaining part of their nation followed and 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 207 

set themselves down in the valley and on the hills of Onon- 
daga." 

By placing them on the southern side of the river this 
is a good sketch of their movements. He adds : 

''The Onondagas have also a tradition that the Bear and 
Wolf tribes originated or sprang from the ground near the 
Oswego Falls; that the Eel and Tortoise tribes sprang 
from the sam^e source on the banks of the Seneca river; 
that the Deer and Eagle tribes iirst had existence on the 
hills of Onondaga; and that the Beaver and Heron tribes 
sprang from the earth on the shores of Lake Ontario." 
Three of these names are incorrect, though the clans are 
recognizable. Thus the Heron should be the Snipe. 

When herbs are dug for medicine the first one is left, 
but a little tobacco is scattered over it for good luck. Those 
who dug ginseng in 1888 did this and got a large quantity. 
The Onondagas call this Da-kien-too-keh, forked plant. The 
Oneida name is Ka-lan-dag-gough. It is curious that David 
Zeisberger, who both dug and sold this at Onondaga in 
time of need, found no name for it in his Onondaga lexicon. 
In his journals he simply termed it "the root." In the 
Delaware tongue he called it Woapeck. 

Mary Green had a good knowledge of plants and their 
uses and wished to impart this to her daughter. She went 
to the woods with her, found a plant, pointed out its es- 
sential features, what it was good for and how it should 
be used. A week or so later they went again, but the girl 
had to find the plant and tell its uses. 



PRINCIPAL CHIEFS 



The Onondagas have fourteen principal chiefs, often in- 
correctly called sachems from the Algonquin word. I give 
their official names here according to the Onondaga form, 
and omit the clans because the Bear chan is locally extinct 
and the Eel clan has succeeded to its privileges. The official 
names are practically titles, and chiefs may be kno\^Ti by 
these or by their personal names, and often by both. 



IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

1. Tah-too-ta-hoo, Entangled, is also head chief of the 

Iroquois League. 

2. Ho-ne-sa-ha, Best soil uppermost. 

3. Te-hat-kah-tous, Looking all over. 

4. 0-ya-ta-je-wak, Bitter in the throat. 

5. Ah-we-ke-yat, End of the water. 

6. Te-hah-yut-kwa-ye, Red on the wing. 

7. Ho-no-we-a-to, He has disappeared. 

8. Ga-wen-ne-sen-ton, Her voice scattered. 

9. Ha-he-ho, Spilling now and then, 

10. Ho-nyo-nya-ne, Something was laid down before 

him. 

11. Sha-de-gwa-se, He is bruised, 

12. Sah-ko-ke-he, He may see them. 

13. Hoo-sah-ha-hon, Wearing a weapon in his belt, 

14. Ska-nah-wah-ti, Over the water. 

As the Tuscarora chiefs are not named in the Condol- 
ence, nor in the usual lists, as having a subordinate position, 
somewhat like our territories or island possessions, I add 
their names as far as I can. Daniel La Fort's simile is 
the best I have received. He said, "I build a house. That's 
the Five Nations. I add a wood house. That's the Tuscar- 
oras." "Chadwick, in his "People of the Long House," 
in Canada, gives a list of thirteen principal chiefs as origin- 
ally holding office. But four of these remain in Canada. 
Albert Cusick, whose father was a Tuscarora, reckoned 
nine in New York, and could give but seven of these at 
first, but added the others later. 

1. Ta-ha-en-te-yah-wak-on, Encircling and holding up a 
tree, which is also the council name, alluding to their home 
with the Oneidas, addressed in council as Great Tree people. 
Their own name means Shirt wearing people. The official 
name here given may be Chad wick's Tyogwa waken, 

2. Sa-kwi-sa, usually Sequarisera or Sword bearer, a 
very variable name. Chadwick has it Sagwarithra. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 20f 

3. Tah-ka-yen-den-ah of Ciisick, may be Chadwick's Na- 
kayendenh. 

4. Ta-wah-a-kate agrees with none of Chadwick's. 

5. Kah-en-yah-che-go-nah may be Chadwick's Nehehan- 
enagon, 

6. Ta-ka-hen-was-hen may be Chadwick's Karihdawa- 
gon. 

7. Ho-tach-ha-ta has no likeness to Chadwick. 

8. No-wah-tah-toke, Tw^o moccasins standing together. 

9. Sah-go-hone-date-hah, One that spares another. 

Chadwick gives the following as extinct titles in Canada, 
and some of these are in the preceding list. 

10. Nehawenaha. 14. Karinyentya. 

11. Dehgwadehha. 15. Nehnokaweh. 

12. Nayouchakden. 16. Nehkahehwathea. 

13. Thanadakgwa. 

The Constitution has ample rules for choosing, installing 
and deposing principal chiefs. They must expect fault find- 
ing and therefore their skins were seven fold thicker than 
those of common men. Besides they had big mosquitoes 
then and plenty of them. They smoked the pipe of peace 
— occasionally — and but a few whiffs at a time. They were 
an honorable body and entertained a good deal — usually 
at the public expense. The common people looked upon 
them with reverential owe for their power was certainly 
great. Their oratory elicited the highest praise, and 
throughout their history, even to the present day, they 
have been the shrewdist of politicians. It is no wonder that 
Tammany Hall perpetuates the name of an Indian chief. 



CHANGES 

t)ut of a vast amount of material in my hands I have 
selected a few stories, legends, historic incidents, adding 
to these some facts illustrating the way in which the Onon- 
dagas look on affairs now. A rapid change of opinion is 



210 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

going on, due to various causes. Naturally a change is 
coming about in business matters. The advantages of edu- 
cation are perceived, and that even by those who have op- 
posed schools. Books are read and newspapers taken, and 
of the younger Indians there are very few who cannot speak 
English well. When I first preached at Onondaga I had 
an interpreter. From what I have already said it will 
be seen how little interest is now felt in the great feasts 
and even the picturesque condolence. With the recent deaths 
of Edward Cornplanter, the Seneca, and Frank Logan, the 
Onondaga, two of the ablest of the six preachers of Hand- 
some Lake's religion have passed away. 

The Indian has shown ability as a skilled workman and 
for managing business. Some get good wages or have good 
salaries. I know of Seneca girls who are paying income 
taxes, and men who have handsome motor cars. One of my 
Indian friends has been in every South American seaport 
and in Japan, China, Honolulu and Manilla, and many more 
places. The lure of the city, the lure of travel, has tempted 
many away from their primitive homes. At home they tell 
what they have seen and the result is inevitable. Even 
those who cannot read can listen and plan. 

There were three things that helped the Iroquois by 
bringing them into fraternal relations with their neighbors 
— and by their neighbors I mean those who wished to help 
them. The Church was one. The first efforts were crude 
— a beginning of good things — but these gradually ex- 
panded into some better. They originated personal friend- 
ships, and by degrees a sharing in a great and higher com- 
mon work. The Good Templers helped greatly in the social 
part of this. There was a home lodge, and this did good 
home work, as I well know, but this was part of a great 
organization and all met on a level. Sometimes there was 
a general meeting on the reservation — sometimes there 
were delegates to other gatherings of the same kind. Their 
acquaintance with good people grew — they were well en- 
tertained and learned much of outside life, and told of 
everything they liked or admired when they reached home. 

Whether I should consider the Indian brass band as an 
early helper in their evolution may be a question. They 
loved to play and never tired. At home they were brought 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 211 

together in a good and pleasant way. They went abroad 
as a body and received much attention. They saw there 
was a Vv'orld around them of which they knew little before, 
and they made friends worth having. They were no longer 
an unknown people, but, in their way helpers of the white 
man. 

In later days came the Indian Welfare society, designed 
to do any good it could to the Onondaga Indians. It was 
composed of a few persons who had a hearty interest in 
them, and who, without being intrusive, wis^ied to aid them 
in any time of need. This was founded by Erl A. Bates and 
did much good work. Out of this came a real Indian Wel- 
fare society, composed of N. Y. Iroquois, but with an ad- 
visory committee of white men to help them in any way 
required. This society is intended to bring out the wishes 
and views of the Indians themselves, so that with a better 
understanding of various questions they may better agree 
on what is for their real welfare. This will be a gradual 
progress, but it seems well planned. The Indian should 
think for himself if he wishes an upward advance in life. 



SOME MORE STORIES 

After such a serious talk I may revert to the stories. — 
a few of them — in which the Iroquois take such delight. 
I was greatly pleased when folk lore became a science, and 
I could read fairy tales with the conviction that I was be- 
coming a profound student. In fact it was in this way that 
I learned to detect European features in our Indian tales. 
Sometimes it requires no effort to do this. 

Mrs. E. A. Smith has classified her stories, usually telling 
from whom she had them. I select some more from her 
varied store. 

One of these I had several times at Onondaga, and it 
concerns the origin of the Turtle clan. 

"There were in early times many tortoises of the kind 
familiarly known as mud turtles, inhabiting a small lake or 
pool. During a very hot summer this pool became dry. 
The turtles thereupon set out on their travels over the 
country, to look for a new habitation. One of them, who 



212 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

was particularly fat, suffered a good deal from this unac- 
customed exercise. After a time his shoulders became blis- 
tered under his shell, from the effect of his exertions in 
walking, and he, finally, by an extraordinary effort, threw 
off his shell altogether. The process of transformation 
and development, thus commenced, went on, and in a short 
time this fat and lazy turtle became a man, who was the 
progenitor of the Turtle clan." 



ORIGIN OF MEDICINE 

"Chief Mount Pleasant, one of the Bear clan, relates 
that once upon a time a sickly old man, covered with sores, 
entered an Indian village, where, over each wigwam, was 
placed the sign of the clan of its possessor; for instance, 
the beaver skin denoting the Beaver clan, the deer skin the 
Deer clan. At each of these wigwams the old man ap- 
plied for food and a night's lodging, but his repulsive ap- 
pearance rendered him an object of scorn, and the Wolf, 
the Tortoise and the Heron had bidden the abject old man 
to pass on. At length, tired and weary, he arrived at a 
wigwam where a bear skin detokened the clanship of its 
owner. This he found inhabited by a kind-hearted woman, 
who immediately refreshed him with food and spread out 
skins for his bed. Then she was instructed by the old 
man to go in search of certain herbs, which she prepared 
according to his directions, and through their efficacy he 
was soon healed. Then he commanded that she should 
treasure up this secret. A few days after he sickened with 
a fever, and again commanded a search for other herbs, and 
was again healed. This being many times repeated, he at 
last told his benefactress that his mission was accomplished, 
and that she was now endowed with all the secrets for 
curing disease in all its forms, and that before her wig- 
wam should grow a hemlock tree whose branches should 
reach high into the air above all others, to signify that the 
Bear should take precedence of all other clans, and that 
she and her clan should increase and multiply." 

It was the custom to paint or carve a figure of the clan 
totem on the front of a cabin, to indicate the position of its 
owner, and a visitor could claim hospitality of the clan to 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 213 

which he belonged. David Cusick also told this story in a 
different way, and the Tuscarora chief may have had this 
in mind. 

'The sixth family, Esaurora or Tuscarora, was visited 
by a person and went to see their amusements, but he was 
abused by some of the ball-players. He punished the offen- 
der by throwing him into a tree; he suddenly disappeared, 
but the person came again and released the fellow from 
the tree. The visitor appeared very old man ; he appeared 
among the people for a while ; he taught them many things ; 
how to respect their deceased friends, and to love their 
relations, etc., he informed the people that the whites be- 
yond the great water had killed their Maker, but he rose 
again; and he warns them that the whites would in some 
future day take possession of the Big Island, and it was 
impossible to prevent it; the red children would melt away 
like snow before the heat. The aged man became very sick, 
and he told them to get different kinds of roots, to cure 
the diseases, and also showed them the manner of mourn- 
ing, etc. The aged man died among them, and they buried 
him; but soon after some person went to the grave and 
found he had risen and never heard of since." 

This was but 400 years before Columbus came. ^Irs. 
Smith added other stories on the origin of various things, 
one of which follows. 



ORIGIN OF WAMPUM 

"A man, while walking in a forest, saw an unusually 
large bird, covered with a heavily clustered coating of wam- 
pum. He immediately informed his people and chiefs, 
whereupon the head chief offered, as a prize, his beautiful 
daughter to [any] one who would capture the bird, dead 
or alive, v/hich apparently had come from another world. 
Whereupon the warriors, with bows and arrows, went to 
the 'tree of promise,' and as each lucky one barely hit the 
bird, it would throw off a large quantity of the coveted 
coating, which, like the Lernaean hydra's head, multiplied 
by being cropped. At last, when the vv'arriors were des- 
pairing of success, a little boy from a neighboring tribe 
came to satisfy his curiosity, by seeing the wonderful bird 



214 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

of which he had heard, but, as his people were at war with 
this tribe, he was not permitted by the warriors to try 
his skill at archery, and was even threatened v/ith death. 
But the head chief said, 'He is a mere boy; let him shoot 
on equal terms with you, who are brave and fearless war- 
riors.' His decision being final, the boy, with unequaled 
skill, brought the coveted bird to the ground. 

"Having received the daughter of the head chief in mar- 
riage, he divided the oh-ko-ah between his own tribe and 
that into which he had married, and peace was declared 
between them. Then the boy husband decreed that wam- 
pum should be the price of peace and blood, which was 
adopted by all nations. Hence arose the custom of giving 
belts of wampum to satisfy violated honor, hospitality, or 
national privileges." 

The Hurons had a specified rate for atoning for murder 
by wampum. If a woman was killed the rate was doubled. 
The above story suggests the days "when knighthood was 
in flower," and the warriors had not heard of "the goose 
that laid the golden egg," else the bird might not have 
fallen. Ote-ko-a is the Onondaga word for wampum. 



ORIGIN OF TOBACCO 

Mrs. Smith's story of the Indian weed differs much from 
all others. The plant used is not found outside of reser- 
vations but its presence is indispensable in religious rites. 
"A boat filled with medicine men passed near a river bank, 
where a loud voice had proclaimed to all the inhabitants 
to remain indoors; but some disobeying, died immediately. 
The next day the boat was sought for and found, contain- 
ing a strange being at each end, both fast asleep. A loud 
voice was then heard, saying that the destroying of these 
creatures would result in a great blessing to the Indian. 
So they were decoyed into a neighboring council house, 
where they were put to death and burned, and from their 
ashes rose the tobacco plant." 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 215 

A HUNTER'S ADVENTURE 

A Seneca hunter had no arrows left when he came to a 
lake where he saw many wild geese. He got some second 
growth basswood bark, whch he tore into strips and tied 
to his belt. Going into the water he dove under the flock 
and tied some geese with the bark, but they and the rest 
flew up into the air with him. While unfastening some 
all broke away, and he fell into a tall and hollow stump. 
Out of this he could not get. After two days some women 
came to chop this down, but his cries frightened them and 
they went off for aid. At last he was free. 

He remained with his rescuers till he had a large stock 
of arrows, and then went off for another hunt. He had 
fine luck and put up much oil in leather bottles. Then he 
prepared to go home. He remembered how he had been 
high in the air, and made some wings of thinly dressed 
deer skin, which worked well. With oil bottles for ballast 
he flew over the friendly women's lodges and dropped some 
for them. Then he flew home and told the story of the 
first successful Iroquois aviation. 



HOW EARLY ANIMALS WERE CHANGED 

The improvement of animals for special purposes has 
long been a great study — perhaps from the beginning of 
pastoral life. The Iroquois gave it an early date. Some- 
thing of this appears in Mr. Hewitt's Seneca version of 
the creation of animals. The grandmother tells the elder 
brother that Ga-ha, the Wind, is his father, and he goes 
to see him. Ga-ha gave him a great bag, in which were 
many game animals. The son carried it on his back by 
means of the forehead strap, but was soon tired. He sat 
down and peeped in, for he thought, "They belong to me, 
any way, so its all right." They made a rush and all got 
away, for he was taken by surprise. 

He reached home and told his brother and grandmother. 
They heard the animals and saw them go by. The old 
woman said one should be called an elk, another a deer, 
another a bear, and a fourth a buffalo. The boy wished 
for a hollow place, full of oil. At once there it was. He 



216 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

ordered the buffalo to plunge in. On the farther side it 
emerged from the oil pool, ''having become as fat as it is 
possible for it to be." The bear followed in the same way, 
but "he loaded it by inserting meat into its legs. And now, 
verily, its legs are very large." The deer followed, with 
the same results, but said it would bite the hunters, and 
therefore its upper teeth were removed. All honied ani- 
mals suffered the same change. The raccoon, woodchuck, 
porcupine and skunk passed through the pool and were 
made fat. These formed a class. 

When the mink plunged into the pool, the youth seized 
him, held him up, and "stripped his body through his hands, 
and that is the reason that his body became somewhat 
longer." This happened to the fisher, otter and weasel. 
The wolf, panther and fox did not enter the pool. 



GA-DO-JIH AND SA-GO-DA-OH, THE GOLDEN EAGLE 
AND THE HUNTER VULTURE. 

ORIGIN OF THE BIRD DANCE 

I add this from Mrs. Converse, with Mr. Parker's pre- 
fatory note. 

"The Bird dance, seen in the Long House ceremonies 
at the Indian New Year's ceremony, is the public exhibi- 
tion of the Eagle Society, one of the (once) secret fraterni- 
ties of the Senecas. The dance is called the ga-ne-gwa-e. 
This society is one of the most influential, next to the Ga- 
no-da, Ho-noh-tci-noh-gah (Little Water Society). The 
sign of membership in the Eagle Society is a round spot 
of red paint on either cheek. Jo-wiis means chipping spar- 
row, and as a name was regarded as one of the preferred." 

"The Ga-do-jih, the Golden Eagle of the far away heav- 
ens, is the Head Chief of all the birds. The Ga-do-jih never 
visits the earth, but employs many assistants, upon whom 
he imposes various duties. To his subchief, Don-yon-do, 
the Bald Eagle, he has assigned the mountain tops of the 
earth land. Don-yon-do won this distinction by his strength, 
acute sight and extraordinary powers of flight. The strong 
rays of the sun cannot blind him. He is proud, and his 
heart throbs to the skies; and although he swoops down 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 217 

to the lowlands for his prey, he flies to the highest moun- 
tain top to devour it. 

"From his retinue of servitors, Ga-do-jih has chosen 
many of the vulture family whose obnoxious duties lead 
them to plunder in offensive places. But they are faithful 
in his service for it is the law of Ga-do-jih that the earth 
must be kept clean. Yet these proud, ravenous birds have 
tender hearts, and although their scavenger life leads them 
into base paths, Ga-do-jih does not deny them the pure air 
of the sky, nor the clear waters of the earth. 

"Among these birds of prey is Sa-go-da-oh, the Hunting 
Vulture, who ceaselessly searches for spoil. All refuse of 
the earth, beneath and above, is his. Occasionally he passes 
Don-yon-do on his sky way, but the lofty spirit of Don-yon- 
do knows not Sa-go-da-oh. In quest of his mountain crest 
Don-yon-do sweeps through the blue of the heavens like 
the flying wind, while Sa-go-da-oh slowly soars within the 
cloud nets, and watches to swoop down on his prey. 

"One day in the long time ago, Jo-wiis, a young Indian 
lad, was lost in the woods, and had wept till nearly blinded. 
For many days and nights the rain had flooded the forest, 
and Jo-wiis could not find his home path. In the black 
sky there was no sun or moon to guide him, and hungering 
and faint, he had fallen on the river bank to die, when 
Don-yon-do, who chanced to be flying across the earth, dis- 
covered him, and lifting him on his wings, flew in search 
of an Indian village. Looking down in the far below, he 
discovered smoke ascending from some lodges, and alighting 
left Jo-wiis near them, and slowly winged away. The rain 
continued to fall, and no one had come for the fast dying 
boy, when Sa-go-da-oh, winging past in search of night 
-prey, espied him, and closing in his wings, dropped to the 
wet earth where the boy was lying. Though Sa-go-da-oh's 
talons were long and strong, his heart was tender, and 
gently lifting Jo-wiis, bore him to the village, but failing 
to find his home, took him to Ga-do-jih in the sky, who 
nourished him and grew to love him. 

"Ga-do-jih took Jo-wiis to the sky council house when 
the birds were celebrating the New Year, and taught him 
their dances; also to all the feasts throughout the year. 



218 IROQL'OiS FOLK LORE 

teaching him the bird songs and all the laws of the birds, 
especially the sacred law protecting their nests in the spring 
and sheltering them in the winter. And he was shown 
the corn and the grains, which Ga-do-jih told him must 
be shared with the feathered folk below. All these laws he 
was enjoined to impart to his people when he should re- 
turn to the earth." 

In due time all this was done, and thus the Iroquois 
know the origin of Je-gi-yah-goh-o-a-noh, the Bird dance, 
a prominent dance used at the New Year. "During its 
performance the dancers imitate the motions of a bird, 
squatting low and moving their bodies and heads, as if 
picking the grains of com which have been scattered on the 
floor." 

Mr. F. B. Converse obtained the music on the Cattarau- 
gus reservation. It is used by the Eagle society, and at 
Onondaga is called the Eagle and sometimes the Strike 
Stick dance. Two dance side by side and in just the same 
way, each holding a long stick with feathers spread out 
on each side. They bend down, doubling one knee under 
the dancer and stretching the other out on one side. A 
cent is placed on the floor and picked up with the mouth. 
Some one strikes the floor with a stick, and this gives it the 
name of Ga-na-gah-a, or Strike Stick dance. A dancer 
makes a speech and gives tobacco. The Senecas also use 
the feathered sticks representing wings. 



CAPTAIN GEORGE'S STORY 

Capt. Samuel George, the famous runner, told the story 
of the great serpent of Canandaigua lake, but he had some 
of a humorous kind, and told the following to Albert Cusick. 

While part of the Onondagas still lived near Jamesville, 
and others near the Onondaga quarries, they used to go 
to a grove near Onondaga lake in the spring, to make sugar, 
and in the fall to the salt springs to boil salt. One autumn 
two brothers went there, and while their wives made salt 
they went off to hunt, but in different directions. A storm 
came up, and one thought of a shanty at the sugar camp 
and went there for shelter. It was dark when he reached 
it, and he had been there but a short time when he heard 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION glQ 

something coming-. It was his brother, but he thought it 
was a bear. So he was afraid, keeping close to the wall 
and as low as he could. As his brother breathed hard while 
feeling around, he thought a bear was smelling for him, 
and when his cold hands came across his face he thought 
they were the bear's paws. The other was just as fright- 
ened, thinking his hands had touched a dead man's face. 
So they clinched and wrestled, without saying a word, but 
neither could throw the other. They wrestled till out of 
breath, and then one said, "Are you a man?" But he could 
only speak in a frightened whisper. Then the other said, 
"Are you a man ?" They v/ere more frightened, than ever, 
for each thought the other a ghost. So they wrestled again. 
Then one whispered, "Are you a live man?" The other 
whispered the same. Then they let go and got back to the 
wall. Then one got his breath and said: "Who are you? 
Are you a human being?" But when he spoke so loud his 
brother knew his voice, and both were very glad. 



STORY OF THE LA FORTS 

The La Forts were adopted, or rather came from the 

Oneidas, but this must have been long ago. Dehatkatous, 
or Abram La Fort, who died October 5, 1848, aged 54 years, 
on the coffin plate was said to be head chief of the Onon- 
dagas, which would be Atotarho of the Bear clan at that 
time. Dehatkatous was the third chief and of the same 
clan, while Clark makes this La Fort of the Beaver clan, 
which had no principal chiefs. His father was Hoh-a-hoa- 
qua, who fell in the battle of Chippewa, July 6, 1814. Clark 
adds that "The father of Dehatkatous was a civil chief of 
great distinction forty years ago, (1809), and then second 
only to Oundiaga. On account of his uncommon martial 
abilities he was chosen war captain of the Onondagas, and 
subsequently first war chief of the Six Nations, in which 
capacity he acted on the frontier, in the early part of the 
campaign of 1814, until his death." On the other hand 
Col. Wm. L. Stone says Capt. Pollard was chosen and com- 
manded. Clark also says that "Dehatkatous succeeded in 
part to the title of the sachemship held by his father, 
through the voice and consent of the nation" — an improb- 
able thing. 



220 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

This story is or was told of the family origin by Moses 
Charles and Chief Abram Hill, both Oneidas. In early days 
the Oneidas went on a northern hunt, camping on a river 
above a high waterfall. One day they saw a canoe floating 
down, containing a little French boy and girl. They were 
rescued before reaching the fall and taken to Oneida. Noth- 
ing more is said of the boy, but the girl became a beautiful 
woman, and the head chief's son wished to marry her. 
The chief and his people were indignant, thinking this a 
disgrace to the family and nation, though certainly a fre- 
quent thing. The young man and woman went away, but 
many years later came back and were reconciled, the chil- 
dren being adopted as Oneidas. From them sprang the 
La Forts. 



ALBERT CUSICK'S STORY OF A HUNTER 

A hunter used to go into the forest every day in search 
of game but brought none home. There was a reason for 
this. He had met a handsome but bad woman in the forest, 
and instead of bringing meat to his wife and children he 
had given it all to her, and tried to deceive them. There 
is a woody fungus growing on decaying trees, which is 
called 0-nah-sah, from its resemblance to a cock's comb. 
This he brought home and fed to his children. It had no 
blood in it, but he said it had all run out, an showed some 
on his arrow points. Sometimes he called it deer's meat 
and sometimes bear's. His children knew little of such 
things, but his wife was wiser. She watched and followed 
him and he was found out. 



ANIMALS 



As men are supposed to have descended from the lower 
anim.als, it is not surprising, said an early Dutch writer, 
that they should partake of the nature of one of those first 
created animals; for they are either timorous and inno- 
cent, like the deer; revengeful, cruel, and in combat erect, 
nimble and strong fisted, like the bear ; or blood, thirsty, 
subtle and deceitful, like the wolf." 

In 1743 Pyrlaeus took down the following story about 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 221 

the first men from the mouth of Sganarady, an old Mohawk 
chief: "They had dwelt in the earth where no sun shone. 
Though they followed hunting, they ate mice, which they 
caught with their hands. Ganawagahha, (one of them), 
having accidentally found a hole to get out of the earth, 
he went out, and walking about he found a deer, which 
he took back; and in consequence of the meat tasting very 
good, and the favorable description he gave of the country 
above, their mother concluded it best for them all to go out ; 
accordingly they did so, except the ground hog, who would 
remain." 

There are frequent references to these early homes of 
men and the lower animals. Often they have no difficulty 
in conversing. My Mohawk friend, Odjidjatekha, of Can- 
ada, often called Brant-sero, furaishes two interesting dog 
stories. Dogs are supposed to detect the approach of ghosts. 

"One day a dog said to a man that at a certain time the 
ghosts would come for him, and that he must pack up and 
be off if he did not want them to get him. If he disre- 
garded the dog's w^arning he would be lost. He started, 
and the dogs, one on each side of him, trotted along, and 
when he was tired carried him on. Behind them they could 
hear something flying along, and making a great noise like 
thunder, as it came nearer and nearer. 

"It was the spirit, and when it got too near one of the 
dogs would go back and fight it, while the other would 
go along for awhile, and then take his turn at fighting back 
the ghost. By and by one of the dogs got tired ; and said 
to his master that he could not hold out any longer ; and he 
went back, and the master saw him no more. The other 
dog, however, kept on, and the man reached home, and on 
arriving fell down on the threshold. A light was seen, and 
when the crowd gathered round and questioned him, he 
said, 'I've seen a ghost.' The Indians are much afraid of 
strange lights, believing them to be ghosts." 

He also told another dog story "when asked if the Indians 
ever believed that dogs spoke." 

He "said that at Caughnawaga (an Indian settlement 
in the Province of Quebec), some time ago, a man put his 
dog out of doors in cold weather. After a while he heard 



222 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

something outside saying how cruel and bad it was to keep 
him out in such very cold weather. He thought it was a 
man and opened the door, and saw his dog wagging his 
tail." 

"Among the Mohawks the hog is regarded as a sort of 
weather prophet. When cold is about to come on, he car- 
ries straw in his mouth to make a nest. When a hog is 
killed, the people examine something in the inside to see 
what the weather will be. Every year at the Reservation 
prophecies are made regarding the weather for the follow- 
ing year, and Odjidjatekha claims that these are often 
quite successful. The Indians note a good deal about the 
weather from trees, and from the actions of various animals 
and birds, such as the muskrat, the woodpecker, etc." These 
notes were collected by another friend, Mr. A. F. Chamber- 
lain. 



THE FIRE DRAGON 



In the Hand Bock of the American Indian is an inter- 
esting article by J. N. B. Hewitt on the Fire Dragon. He 
said, "Among the Algonquian and the Iroquoian tribes the 
myths regarding the so-called fire-dragon are at once strik- 
ing and important. Now the fire-dragon is in fact the per- 
sonification of the meteor. Flying through the air among 
the stars, the large meteors appear against some midnight 
sky like fiery reptiles, sheathed in lambent flames. It is 
believed of them that they fly from one lake or deep river 
to another, in the bottom of which they are bound by en- 
chantment to dwell, for should they be permitted to re- 
main on the land they would set the world on fire. The 
Iroquois applied their names for the fire-dragon, 'light 
thrower,' to the lion when first seen, thus indicating their 
conception of the fierceness of the fire-dragon. . . . Among 
the Iroquois it was the deeds of the fire-dragon that has- 
tened the occasion for the metamorphoses of the primal 
beings." 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 223 

FRENCH COLONIES IN ONONDAGA COUNTY 

DeWitt Clinton, in v/riting on our local antiquities, gave 
an account of a French colony, supposedly located on But- 
ternut creek, south of Jamesville, in 1666. "The little col- 
ony remained for three years in a very peaceable and flour- 
ishing situation, during which time addition v;as made to 
the establishment, and among others a small chapel, in 
which the Jesuit used to collect the barbarians and per- 
form ail the rites and ceremonies of his church. About 
this time (1669), a party of Spaniards, consisting of 
twenty-three persons, arrived at the village, having for 
guides some of the Iroquois who had been taken captives 
by some of the southern tribes. . . . They had been in- 
formed that there was a lake to the north whose bottom 
was covered with a substance shining and white, which 
they took from the Indians' description to be silver. 

"Having arrived at Onondaga Lake and the French vil- 
lage, and finding no silver, they seemed bent on a quarrel 
with the French, whom they charged with having bribed 
the Indians, so that they would not tell them vrhere the 
silver might be found. A compromise was finally effected ; 
they agreed that an equal number of Spaniards and French 
should be sent on an exploring expedition. The Indians, 
seeing these strangers prowling the woods with various 
instruments, suspected some design to be in operation to 
deprive them of their country. This jealousy was much 
increased by the accusation of the Europeans themselves. 
The Spaniards told the Indians that the only object of the 
French was to tyranize over them. The French, on the 
other hand, asserted that the Spaniards were laying a plot 
to rob them of their lands. 

"The Indians by this time becoming jealous of both, de- 
termined in private council to rid themselves of these in- 
truders. Having privately obtained the assistance of the 
Oneidas and Cayugas, they agreed upon the time and man- 
ner of attack. A little before daybreak on All Saints' Day, 
1669, the little colony, together with the Spaniards, were 
aroused from their slumbers by the discharge of fire-arms 
and the war-whoop of the savages. Every house was im- 
mediately fired or broken open, and such as attempted to 
escape from the flames were killed by the tomahawk ; and 



224 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

not one of the colonists or Spaniards was left alive to relate 
the sad disaster." 

I have given some myths already, but this is the cham- 
pion. There was never a French colony at that time or 
place ; no Spaniards came and there was no massacre. The 
Jesuit missionaries, from their several stations, held a con- 
ference in August, 1669, on Indian Hill in Pompey. Father 
Fremin wrote that he had a crowded attendance in his 
Seneca chapel, November 3rd, the Sunday after All Saints. 
Father Milet did not mention that day at Onondaga, but 
told of those which followed. He went through the streets 
calling the people to worship, and continued this through 
Advent. Neither he nor his chapel had been burned. 

Another myth comes in, in the Thacher wampum case. 
That is quite full of them, but this is about the French. 
The veracious interpreter of a wampum belt said that the 
French priest told the Onondagas that a building close by 
his mission was filled with goods for them, but he could 
not open them till the king came. He told a captive white 
boy, however, that it was full of arms, and when the king 
came they would annihilate the Onondagas. The boy told 
the chief and a council was called which ordered the doors 
opened. The priest vainly tried to stop them, and arms in 
profusion were discovered. Then they heated an ax red 
hot, hung it on the priest's breast and it burned his heart 
out. Do not grieve. It never happened, though we are 
told that it did, between Jamesville and Pompey, and north 
of Pompey Hill. The Onondagas at once renounced the 
French religion, and the French came against them, but 
were defeated in a great battle at Camden, N. Y. 

One more myth if you wish. This is from Clark's Onon- 
daga, vol. i, page 48. 'There is a tradition among the 
Onondagas, that some twenty years before the revolution- 
ary war about thirty families came from Canada and set- 
tled among them. Some of these people settled along the 
hill west of the Castle, and others in the present town 
of La Fayette. After a while the Indians became dissatis- 
fied with them and drove them away. Pretending to fill 
their sacks with pounded com, they only put in them ashes, 
covering the mouth of the sacks with meal. The company 
all miserably perished on the shores of lake Ontario. The 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 225 

company had brought a blacksmith with them, who refused 
to return v/ith his country men to Canada. His stay among 
the Indians was in no way agreeable to them. They took 
him and bound him to a tree, heated a large chain, with an 
axe attached to it, hung it around his neck and roasted 
him to death," The Onondagas were partial to this form 
of torture. 



THE GREAT SPIRIT DESCENDS 

On the same page as the last will be found the following 
local item, but I do not know the exact spot, if the ledge 
still exists : *'0n the authority of some of the older inhabi- 
tants of Onondaga, it is stated that on a ledge of rocks, 
about a mile south of Jamesville, is a place which used to 
be pointed out by the Indians as the spot where the Great 
Spirit once came down and sat and gave good advice to 
the chiefs of the Onondagas. That there are the prints of 
his hands and his feet, left in the rocks, still to be seen. 
In former years the Onondagas used annually to offer, at 
this place, tobacco and pipes, and to burn tobacco and herbs 
as a sacrifice to the Great Spirit, to conciliate his favor, 
and which was a means of preventing diseases." 



BIG NECK, THE GIANT 

David Cusick gave a curious account of this giant, born 
in the reign of Atotarho 3d, about 900 years before Col- 
umbus. "About this time the Oneidas had extended their 
forts down the river Kaunsehwatauyea, or Susquehanna, 
a fort situated on the river." At this place was bom "a 
male child of uncommon size ; when he was twelve years of 
age he was nearly as large as a grown person, and he would 
beat his playmates, which would create disputes." His 
mother corrected him and he promised never to injure his 
people. "When grown up he became a giant and was a 
great hunter; the parent was stored with venison continu- 
ally he was so strong that when [he] returned from hunting 
he would have five or six deers or bears strung around on 
his belt The giant was named Soh-nou-re-wah, i. e. Big 
Neck " He had trouble with the Sah-wau-noo or ShauTiees, 
who then lived on that river. He brought in several suits 



226 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

of dresses and the scalps of some he had killed. The Shaw- 
nees complained of his conduct at the fort Kau-na-seh-wa- 
tau-yea, and his relatives kept him quiet for two years, and 
then he went down the river, plundering and abusing the 
people of every town. The Shawnees complained and 
threatened war. 

The Oneida chief, Ne-nau-re-tah-go sent a belt of v/am- 
pum and secured peace. This did not please the giant, and 
he went farther down and began to build a fort, which 
Cusick said he examined in 1800. His relatives came to 
see him, but after he had finished the fort he renev/ed the 
war. He lay in ambush, and shot the people as they came 
along. He used a plump arrow which would break a man's 
body in two. He was so troublesome that his relatives 
plotted against him. It was not an easy task for his 
strength equaled that of ten men. From Fort Kou-na-seh- 
wa-ta-yea three warriors brought him his favorite diet of 
huckle berries, which pleased him greatly. While he was 
eating, as he sat on a bench, one of the warriors stepped 
on this and struck him on the head with a club. He ran 
out of the fort but sank in the soft mire of the river bank 
and was killed. The warriors carried off a great quantity 
of skins. 

In describing the fort at Oxford, N. Y., the Historical 
Collections of New York, vary from this account, saying: 
"The Oneidas leave us this tradition : that about a century 
or more since, a gigantic chief occupied it, who destroyed 
all their hunters who came into this quarter. They called 
this chief Thick Neck. The Oneidas made several attempts 
to decoy him from his stronghold, but without success. They 
at length managed to go between him and the fort, when 
he ran down the river about six miles, and secreted himself 
in the marsh around the pond called Warn's Pond. Here 
he was discovered and killed by the Oneidas, who buried him 
and scratched the leaves over his grave, that no vestige of 
him should remain." 



INTERCALARY MONTH 

To accommodate their m.onths to the solar year the Onon- 
dagas have an intercalary month which sometimes comes in 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 227 

June, and a story is connected with this. Even now it is 
sometimes disputed where it should be in any given year. 
Usually they follow our calendar, but the story is of a 
heated dispute. When this month is used, 0-yah-ye-hah 
comes before 0-yah-ye-hah-go-nah. One Onondaga said, 
"This is 0-yah-ye-hah ;" but the other replied : "0 no ! 
this is 0-yah-ye-hah-go-nah." The dispute grew hot. One 
of the two grasped a poker, striking the other over the 
head and crying as he fell: "Down goes that month." So 
it is sometimes called the dead month ; but then this name 
may have come from its frequent or general disuse. 



RATTLES 



Originally there were but two kinds of rattles, the turtle 
and the gourd. In the old symbolic picture wrUing the 
latter was carried by a prisoner in a kind of triumphal pro- 
cession. I have seen them, as they were once used in special 
dances. They are often replaced by a section of cow's horn 
with wooden ends, through which passes the handle. In 
the squash or gourd rattle the ends are perforated to pass 
the handle through. Additional side perforations affect 
the sound. The Onondagas call this A-e-tot-ha Ka-sta-wen- 
sa, the first word indicating the medicine dance at which it 
is used. There are several medicine societies. It is said 
that the horn rattle may be used at almost any dance. 

The big turtle rattle is used in the Great Feather dance, 
and in the medicine dance of the False Faces. It is carried 
by the chief False Face, and is so large that its use is labor- 
ious. It is called, by the Onondagas, Ka-nya-ten-go-nah, 
Big mud turtle, adding Ka-sta-wen-sa, Rattle. All of these 
rattles that I have seen are of the snapping turtle. Corn 
or gravel is placed in the shell, and the head and neck are 
dravm out to full length, stiffened by polished sphnts, and 
form a neat handle. They may be of any size. For over 
thirty years past a nice and effective rattle has been made 
of hickory bark from a sapling. A piece of double the 
length required is taken off, folded, and one end is wrapped 
around the other, corn or gravel is placed withm, and a 
cork or piece of corn cob at the handle end completes the 
rattle ' Whether the use or disuse of drums and rattles at 



228 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

any dance has religious or poetic significance I am not in- 
formed. 

Though the False Faces throw ashes on the sick, there 
is another medicine society whose members sprinkle water 
on them with corn husks. They are called Wat-na-ko-ah- 
gue, Throwing water at each other, and are mostly women. 
Members of another take water in the mouth and spirt it 
over the sick, as in early days. Susannah Frost did this. 
She was the mother of Mary Green, and had the same mode 
of teaching the use of herbs. 



CORN AND OTHER FOODS 

I make some extracts from Mr. Parker's Iroquois Uses 
of Maize, etc. Elias Johnson, the old Seneca chief whom 
I have quoted before, told Mrs. Wright in 1879, that purple 
or blue corn was "brought from the south, also various 
kinds of corn, black, red and squaw corn. . . . All these 
things they found on their war expeditions, and brought 
them here and planted them, and thus they abound." Old 
Indians said that the object of these raids was to get slaves 
and new vegetables. Most captives were slaves for a time, 
but often replaced the dead. 

Like other things corn had a spirit. In the Code of 
Handsome Lake is this incident: "It was a bright day 
when I went into the planted field, and alone. I wandered 
in the planted field, and it was the time of the second 
hoeing. Suddenly a damsel appeared and threw her arms 
about ray neck, and as she clasped me she spoke, saying, 
'When you leave this world for the new world above it, it is 
our wish to follow you.' I looked for the damsel, but saw 
only the long leaves of corn twining round my shoulders. 
And then I understood that it was the spirit of the corn 
who had spoken, she, the sustainer of life." 

In early days the Iroquois had but one regular meal, and 
that a little before noon, but the kettle was over the fire all 
day. The housewife announced that it was ready, and the 
guest, at the end, heartily said, "Niawen, Thanks are 
given.' This was supposed to be addressed to the Creator. 
As a response the host or hostess, the housewife or some 
member of the family would say, *Niu,' meaning 'It is well.' 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 220 

Neglect to use these words was supposed to indicate that. 
... the eater was indifferent." There is a similar Onon- 
daga custom, but all these quotations from Parker are 
Seneca. 

Wedding bread, or Gon-ni-ta-o-a-kwa, had a special use. 
Bread was prepared as usual, but made up in two balls 
with a short connecting neck, and wrapped in corn husk 
tied in the middle. It was then boiled for an hour. Twenty- 
four of these were then taken by the girl's maternal grand- 
mother to the door of the maternal grandmother of an 
eligible man. There was a previous understanding, and if 
the recipient favored the match she tasted the bread, and 
notifies her own daughter that her son is desired in mar- 
riage. His mother miiet submit if there is no valid objec- 
tion. The boy's grandmother then makes 24 wedding cakes 
and takes them to the girl's grandmother. She tells the 
girl she must marry the man. If she rejects him he goes 
home, and the cakes are left untouched. 

Van der Donck, in his Description of New Netherlands, 
says, "When they intend to go a great distance on a hunt- 
ing expedition . . . where they expect no food, they pro- 
vide themselves severally with a small bag of parched corn 
meal, which is so nutritious that they can subsist upon 
the same many da:/s. A quarter of a pound of the meal 
is sufficient for a day's subsistence ; for as it shrinks much 
in drying, it also swells out again with moisture. When 
they are hungry they take a handful of meal, after which 
they take a drink of water, and then they are so well fed 
that they can travel a day." One Algonquin name for this 
was Cittamun. 

Bear's pudding was made of boiled and unseasoned yel- 
lov/ meal, mixed with bits of fried meat, and was cere- 
monially eaten by members of the Bear society. Buffalo 
dance pudding was made of squaw corn meal, sweetened 
with maple sugar and boiled to the consistency of thick 
mud. It is used only by the Buffalo medicine society. Ball 
players pudding is a charm and made like the next. A 
v/oman with rheumatic troubles gives this to a ball player, 
who, by eating it, charms away the disease. 

False face pudding is eaten at private ceremonies for the 
sick. It is made of boiled parched corn mixed with maple 



280 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

sugar. Not a disrespectful word is to be uttered while eat- 
ing it. 

Corn husks are used for v/ater sprinkling by the Otter 
company at their winter ceremonies. The cob becomes a 
handle. Corn husk meshs were also ceremonially used 
more in Canada than here — and corn husk dolls are now 
well known. 

Dried blackberries, soaked in honey and water, were a 
ceremonial food in the rites of the Bear society. Dried, 
and in later times preserved strawberries, mixed with 
water and maple sugar, were a refreshment for the guard- 
ians of the Little Water Medicine society during their night 
song, and berries had medicinal uses in some cases. For 
strawberries there was a special thanksgiving. 



MAPLE FEAST 



Last year it was announced in a daily paper, that "the 
dance of the trees and the maple sugar" would be held the 
night of the new moon, March 20th, at the Onondaga reser- 
vation, and also at others. The colonists learned the use 
of the maple tree from the Indians and followed their crude 
methods for a long time. The Moravians speak of these 
the only time they stayed here through the winter, and 
the sugar camp came into some of their stories. The re- 
porter said that this feast would be held in the council house 
instead of outdoors. 

The secret of the maple's sap was, in theory at least, 
guarded by the grandmothers of three clans. They chose 
a young man of a certain age to go into the woods on his 
errand, provided, in old times, with a clay bowl and a sharp 
stone, called a "sap sucker" and used to pierce the bark. For 
picturesque effect he went to an oak tree first, and returned 
saying there was no sap there. Another young man, a little 
older, was then sent out and went to a hickory tree with 
the same result. Other tests might follow if time permitted, 
but at last the clan grandmothers told the messenger what 
tree to seek, and he came back with his bowl full of sap. 
I fancy these ceremonies must have been in daylight, as the 
sap seldom runs at night. The boiling might take place 
then. The white people made quite a frolic of "sugaring 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 231 

off" at night, and the Onondagas may have liked it just as 
well. 

The Indians danced around the fire and partook of the 
thickening syrup, and then came a round corn meal cake, 
conical at the top and covered with honey in later days, 
for the honey bee came with the colonists, and the only 
sweetening the Indians had at first came from the maple. 
This ended the refreshment, and after dancing for some 
hours they needed it. 

That they gave thanks for blessings received and asked 
blessings desired, appeared in every feast of this kind. To 
be thankful was a striking feature of Indian character, and 
he celebrated many a thanksgiving before the colonists of 
New England observed one there. 

Mr. Morgan said of this feast, "This was a return of 
thanks to the maple itself, for yielding its sweet waters," 
for trees had their personality. He gave a full account 
of this spring festival, and was in doubt whether making 
sugar came from us or them, but inclining to the former. 

Mr. Parker has an interesting note on the Seneca Maple 
Thanksgiving. "Every spring, at the foot of the largest 
maple tree in each village, a ceremonial fire was built and 
a prayer chanted by the Keeper of the Maple Thanksgiving 
ceremony, as he threw upon the embers pinches of the 
sacred incense tobacco. The maple tree started the year. 
Its returning and rising sap, to the Indian, was the sign 
of the Creator's renewed covenant." Reasons for feasts 
are many. 

Mr. Pamer connects the maple with a Mohawk tradition 
which I do not recall, though familiar with the Mohawk 
exodus from Canada, probably shared by their nearest kin- 
dred, the Oneidas. He said: "The Iroquois will ever re- 
member the maple tree, but few now even remember the 
tradition of how it was, during the maple sap season, that 
the Laurentian Iroquois struck their blow for freedom 
from Adirondack domination, and fled into northern and 
central New York." His foot note adds that "One Mohawk 
tradition relates that the women flung hot maple sap into 
the faces of the Algonquin chiefs, and thus helped their 
people in the fight for independence." 



232 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

These Mohawk dames set a fine example for our Moll 
Pitcher of the Revolution, or the Maid of Saragossa in 
Napoleonic times. 



LOCAL NAMES 



These sometimes refer to stories connected with them, 
perhaps only "in the way of suggestion. Date-ke-a-shote, 
Two baby frames, is still the Indian name for Little Sodus 
Bay, and Dats-ka-he, Hard talking, for North Sterling 
Creek, surely had its Indian story. Chautauqua is more 
definite. A Seneca tradition is that a hunting party was 
once encamped on the shore. A young woman dug up and 
ate a root which caused thirst. She went to the lake to 
drink and forever disappeared. Thence it was inferred that 
this root produced an easy death, a relief from the afflic- 
tions of life, the present name referring to this. In a 
speech by Cornplanter he spoke of this: "Another, who 
will not think of dying by the hand of his father or bro- 
ther, says he will return to Jadaqueh, eat of the fatal root, 
and sleep with his fathers in peace." 

Dearborn, (1838) mentioned Cornplanter's words to a 
Tonawanda Indian friend. He asked "v/hat root was al- 
luded to, and he informed me it was of a plant that grew 
on moist land, resembling the Skunk Cabbage, which was 
sweet to the taste, and that a small handful produced death. 
It tasted and smelt like a parsnip. He knew it well and 
had tasted of it. It was pleasant to eat. The effect was 
violent spasms; the head and body were drawn back with 
strong con\^lsions, as in the lockjaw. He said he had known 
of several suicides from eating it. Doctor Wilcox informed 
me tv/o women at Cattaraugus had eaten the 'fatal root' 
within two years, and died — one from disappointed love. 
Cone states that love unrequited was. a common cause of 
suicide. . . . Col. Jones brought me in, this evening, the 
'fatal root,' which the Indians eat, and the whole plant 
attached; it is called the wild parsnip." 

Though thus connected locally with Chautauqua, that is 
not the name of the root, which the Onondagas call 0-nah- 
san-a. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 233 

Pursh, the botanist, when he was at Onondaga in 1807, 
said Cicuta maculata grew there in great abundance, add- 
ing that "the Indians use it to poison themselves, when 
they have an inclination in going out of this world ; it is a 
most powerful poison, as Capt. Webster tells me who has 
seen the case on some Indians which had eaten the root, 
and was lost without being able to get anything as a remedy 
against it; it occasions lockjaw, and the patient is soon 
done. Elder bark or a Muskrat skin chopped fine, with 
the hair on, is reckoned a remedy if soon applied." 

Ca-ha-qua-ra-gha, a Cap, was the name of the upper part 
of Niagara river and of Lake Erie in 1726 and earlier. 
O. H. Marshall applied it to Fort Erie, translating it in 
Place of hats. He said: "Seneca tradition relates, as its 
origin, that in olden time, soon after the first visit of ihe 
white man, a battle occurred on the lake between a party 
of French in bateaux and Indians in canoes. The latter 
were victorious, and the French boats were sunk and the 
crews drowned. Their hats floated ashore where the fort 
was subsequently built, and attracting the attention of the 
Indians from their novelty, they called the locality the place 
of hats." 

Ga-hah-dae-ont-hwah, The hemlock was poured out, either 
the fine leaves of the tree or a medicinal drink made from 
it. This is one name of Squakie Hill. The people there 
may have been a remnant of the Kah-kwahs. David Cu'^ick 
said they were "a powerful tribe past the banks of the 
Genesee river." After they were subdued "a remnant of 
the Squaw-keihows were allowed to remain in this country 
and became vassals to the Five Nations after the conquest." 

Canaseraga creek and village in Madison county, are 
Ka-na-so-wa-ga, several strings of beads with a string lying 
across, according to Morgan and Seaver. I had the same 
meaning at Onondaga. It probably refers to some special 
ceremonial use of wampum at this Tuscarora village, per- 
haps when their formal reception by the Oneidas took 
place. 

Sca-ni-a-do-ris, Long lake, was the name of Madison lake 
in the -land sale of 1811. This line began 'at the west end 
of the Scaniadoris or the Long lake, which is at the head of 



234 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

one of the branches of Ovirka creek." David Cusick told 
a story of this spot, the name of which must not be con- 
fused with the same name elsewhere. A party from Ohio- 
kea "encamped near the lake Skonyatales; one morning 
while they were in the camp a noise broke out in the lake ; 
a man was sent immediately to see the tumult; he saw a 
great bear on the bank rolling down stones and logs; the 
monster appeared to be in a great rage; a lion came out of 
the lake and suddenly fell upon the bear, a severe contest 
ensued ; in the meantime the bear was beaten and was com- 
peled to leave the bank; the next day the men went in 
search of the bear; they found the bear; One of the fore 
legs was so heavy that two men could not lift but a hands 
high." 

Ga-no-a-lo-hale, Head on a pole, was a favorite name for 
Iroquois fortified villages. It might be understood literally, 
but was probably like other instances, where the scalp 
represented the head. A Dutch party came to the Oneida 
castle, December 30, 1634, for the first time. They said, 
"we marched boldly to the castle, where the savages opened 
to let us pass, and so we marched through them by the gate, 
which was three and a half feet wide, and at the top were 
standing three big wooden images of cut wood, like men ; 
and with them I saw three scalps fluttering in the wind 
that they had taken from their foes as a token of the truth 
of their victory. This castle has two gates, one on the 
east and one on the west side. On the west side a lock 
of hair [scalp] was also hanging." 

In speaking of Pompey Mr. Clark said : "Another name 
given to this locality, not often repeated, and about which 
there is much superstitious reserve, is Ote-queh-sah-he-eh, 
the field of blood or bloody ground — a place where many 
have been slain. It has been said that no Indian ever visits 
this neighborhood. They certainly dislike to converse about 
it." Albert Cusick did not know Pompey by this name, 
but defined it as Blood spilled. There is no evidence of early 
battles and the allusion is to the numerous cemeteries. In 
Iroquois speech even a peaceful death might be thought 
the shedding of blood. Thus, in one of the condoling songs, 
the people are reminded that their great men, warriors, 
women, and even little children were daily borne into the 
earth, "so that in the midst of blood you are sitting. Now, 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 285 

therefore, we say, we will wash the blood marks from your 
seat." Thus to call a place a field of blood, might be merely 
to say many were buried there. 

Honeoye, Finger lying, has slight variations in form. 
Marshall defined it, Where the finger lies, and says an In- 
dian, picking strawberries near Honeoye lake, had his finger 
bitten by a rattlesnake. With his tomahawk he cut it off 
and left it lying there. Major Fogg, in his military jour- 
ney of 1779, called it Annaquayen, and said "this took its 
name from a misfortune which befell an Indian, viz: The 
loss of a finger, which the word signifies." 

Cas-son-ta-che-go-na, River of great bark, in 1757 was 
placed a little east of Oswego. Abert Cusick defined this as 
Large pieces of bark lying down, ready for building. Mor- 
gan called it Gasuntaskona, Large bark, and applied it to 
Salmon creek. On Charlevoix's map this is R. da la Grosse 
Ecorce. Ga-sun-ta, Bark in the water, is the name of James- 
ville and of Butternut creek at that place. Clark said of 
the creek: "Indian name Ka-soongh-ta, formerly called 
by the whites, 'Kashunkta,' literally, barks in the water or 
a place where barks are placed after being peeled in spring, 
that they may not curl in summer, and thereby become un- 
fit for covering their cabins for winter, or that they may 
always be in readiness for use." I had the same account 
from the Indians. 



BURIALS 



Te-car-nase-te-o-ah, At the board sign. Painted Post, 
at the confluence of the Conhocton and Tioga rivers. The 
post marked the grave of a great warrior who was buried 
there and whose identity is rather doubtful. On it were 
many rude devices. Such memorials were frequent, and 
an early account said: "When it is a man they painted 
red calumets, calumets of peace on the tomb; sometimes 
they plant a stake on which they paint how often he has 
been in battle; how many prisoners he has taken; the post 
ordinarily is only 4 or 5 feet high and is much embellished. 
(For details see Doe, Hist, of N. Y., vol. 1.). Living war- 
riors often painted their own deeds, and sometimes there 
was ouite a display at places where they frequently en- 



236 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

camped. Some tombs, also, were elaborately decorated and 
of curious construction. When the Dutch party drew near 
Oneida, December 30, 1634, the journalist said, "Before we 
reached the castle we saw three graves, just like our graves 
in length and height ; usually their graves are round. These 
graves v/ere surrounded with palisades that they had split 
from trees, and they were closed up so nicely that it was 
a wonder to see. They were painted with red and white 
and black paint ; but the chief's grave had an entrance, and 
at the top of that was a big wooden bird, and all around 
vv^ere painted dogs and deer, and snakes and other beasts." 

In Sullivan's campaign, August 24, 1779, at Tioga, Lieut. 
Beatty told of a cemetery of about 100 graves, partially 
examined. "They bury their dead very curious, after this 
manner. They dig a hole the length of the person they 
are to bury and about 2 feet Deep. They lay him on his 
back in the grave, with an old Blanket or blanket Coat 
round him, and lay Bark over the Grave, even with the 
Surface of the Earth, so as to prevent the earth from touch- 
ing the body, then they heap up the dirt on the top of 
the Grave in a round heap which is from 4 to 6 feet high." 
One early burial made was in a sitting posture, face to the 
east, but extended burial was quite as early and common. 
The Hurons had scaffold burial, ending in a great dead feast 
for several villages, at which all rem.ains were placed in 
one great pit. Ossuaries are also occasional in western 
New York, but rarer farther east. Of a great dead feast 
in the Huron country the Jesuits gave a graphic account. 
For a long time it was customary to place articles in the 
grave, to be used in the spirit world after death. The 
Hurons prudently knocked the bottoms out of kettles to 
prevent robbery of graves. Spirit kettles were good enough 
in spirit lands, but the Onondagas preferred the real thing. 
Even then brass kettles and iron knives v/ere subject to 
decay. At death they shared in our desire to have the dead 
look as well as possible. 

Heckewelder's account of the burial of a Delaware wo- 
man, near the end of the 18th century, would differ little 
from that of an Iroquois woman of the same period. She 
was placed in a coffin. "Her garments, all new, were set 
off with rows of silver brooches, one row joining the other. 
Over her wrists were bands forming a kind of mittens, 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 237 

worked together of wampum, in the same manner as the 
belts which they use when they deliver speeches. Her long 
plaited hair was confined by broad bands of silver, one 
band joining the other yet not of the same size, but taper- 
ing from the head downwards, and running at the lower 
end to a point. On the neck were hanging five broad belts 
of wampum tied together at the ends, each of a size smaller 
than the other, the largest of which reached below her 
breast, the next larger to a few inches of it, and so on, the 
uppermost being the smallest. Her scarlet leggings were 
decorated with different colored ribbons sewed on, the outer 
edges being finished ofi" with small beads, also of various 
colore. Her mocksens were ornamented with the most strik- 
ing figures, wrought on the leather with colored porcupine 
quills, on the borders of which, round the ankles, were fas- 
tened a number of small round silver bells, of about the 
size of a musket ball. All these things, together with the 
vermilion paint judiciously laid on, so as to set her off in 
the highest style, decorated her person in such a manner 
that nothing of the kind can exceed it." 

It was Indian etiquette that the wife should be hand- 
somely dressed, no matter how the husband was clothed. 

There was something yet to be done. "A number of ar- 
ticles were brought out of the house and placed in the coffin, 
wherever there was room to put them in, among which was 
a new shirt, a dressed deerskin for shoes, a pair of scissor?, 
needles, a knife, pewter basin and spoon, pint cup and 
other similar things, with a number of trinkets and other 
small articles which she was fond of while living. The lid 
was then fastened on the coffin." 

Three handsome poles were passed through straps across 
the cofiin for the bearers, and "a small bag of vermilion 
paint, with some flannel to lay it on, was then thrust into 
the coffin, through the hole cut at the head of it. This hole, 
the Indians say, is for the spirit of the deceased to go m 
and out at pleasure, until it has found the place of its 
future residence." 

Further details I omit. 

Hiokatoo, Seneca chief and husband of Marj' Jemison, 
died in November, 1811, at the reputed age of 103 years. 



238 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

He "was buried decently, and had all the insignia of a 
veteran warrior buried with him; consisting of a war club, 
tomahawk, and scalping knife, a powder flask, flint, a piece 
of punk, a small cake and a cup; and in his best clothing. 
Generally two or three candles are put into the coffin, and 
in a few instances, at the burial of a great man, all his 
implements of war are buried besides the body. The coffin 
is then closed and carried to the grave. On its being let 
down, the person who takes the lead of the solemn trans- 
action, or a chief, addresses the dead in a short speech, 
in which he charges him not to be troubled about himself 
in his new situation, nor on his journey, and not to trouble 
his friends, wife or children, whom he has left; tells him 
that, if he meets with strangers on his way, he must in- 
form them what tribe he belongs to, who his relatives are, 
the situation in which he left them; and that, having done 
this, he must keep on till he arrives at the good fields in 
the country of Hawaneu ; that, when he arrives there he 
will see all his ancestors and personal friends that have 
gone before him, who, together with all the chiefs of cele- 
brity, will receive him joyfully." 

In the evening his nearest relatives build a fire at the 
head of the grave and sit near it till the morning. For 
nine successive nights this is done, the deceased ending his 
long journey at the end of ten days. The relatives must 
not dance during this time. 



FOUR ONONDAGA TALES 

These I did not collect from the Indians, nor did I record 
their source. The first accounts for the cuckoo's nests. 
There was a lazy man who had a lazy son — an unfortunate 
combination. Neither of them worked or cared how things 
were done. The easiest way or no way at all was always 
the best. Their hut was poor and filthy, and bones were 
scattered around. Sometimes they quarreled, and one day 
the father struck his son senseless. For a time he seemed 
dead, but revived and flew away as a cuckoo. Because of 
his inherited lazy ways, the Indians say, the cuckoo (Tite-ti) 
builds no nest at all. It is but a layer of loose twigs and 
grass, neither beautiful nor safe. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 289 

THE THRUSH'S SONG 

This Onondaga story is better. The birds wanted to get 
the sweetest song from the home of the Great Spirit, but 
this was a long way off, in tlie very highest sky. One after 
another tried to reach it, but every one failed. It was too 
far away. At last the great eagle (Skah-je-a-nah) said 
he would try. He was not much of a singer, but he was 
great and strong ; his wings were broad and his sight keen. 
No doubt he could reach the highest skies. As he spread 
hi.'; wings a little brown bird hopped on his back and was 
borne unobserved through the air. The eagle flew high and 
the earth spread out beneath him. He flew higher and he 
was far above the clouds. He flew higher still, but the 
home of the Great Spirit was yet far away. He grew tired 
and had to retul-n. 

As he did so the little bird spread its wings and flew 
on by itself. It had lost no strength, and at last saw the 
bright light where the sweetest songs were heard on all 
sides. It alighted and sang the sweetest one of all, over 
and over again, till it was fixed in its mind. Then it flew 
back to the earth, a far easier task. But as he came near 
he feared the eagle v/ould be angry and kill him. Then 
he feared the other birds v/ould be envious and plague him. 
This he would not like. So he turned aside and found a 
thick grove, with bushes around, and from such places the 
song of the hermit thrush may often be heard. 



THE MAPLE AND THE ASH 

On the Onondaga hills the Sugar Maple claimed to be 
the best of all trees. It said, "I give the sweet water in 
which the red man delights. I give him 0-wha-ta, the 
sugar which he loves. No one else can do this." But the 
Ash tree said "I am Ka-neh, and give him the tough wood, 
out of which he makes his bow. Without this he would 
get little game." Then v/as heard the voice of the Mother 
Life, saying, "Dispute no more. Draw your heads together 
and hear what I shall say." So their boughs interlaced and 
caressed each other, giving out a faint sound. And the 
voice said,"Your gifts are very good, but they all come from 
me. Sing this song when the winds arise." So when the 



240 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

wind blows the branches of these trees come together, and 
a sound is heard, but not that of anger. 

I think, however, that Hickory, Anonoka, is intended, 
from habits and use. 



TA-HEECH-E-HAH, OR TWO DOGS 

Men should be good to their dogs, for kindness is due 
to those that aid us, and if they are unkind there may be 
a penalty. There is an abyss between us and the land of 
souls, and over this two dogs hold a log by their teeth. 
Over this log, if fortunate, the soul passes to the happy 
hunting grounds. If voices are heard saying, "He fed us, 
he sheltered us, he loved us;" then the dogs at each end 
grips hard with his teeth, holding the log with all his might, 
and the soul passes safely over. But if the voices say, 
"He starved us, he beat us, he drove us away;" then, when 
he is half way over, the dogs let go, and he falls into the 
depths of wo. The Onondaga, who told this, thought with 
Coleridge, "He prayeth best who loveth best all things, both 
great and small." 



THE THREE BROTHERS AND THE SUN 

Mr. A. C. Parker discovered traces of an Iroquois adora- 
tion of the' sun in Canada, The Senecas have some cere- 
monies of this kind, and among the Onondagas there the 
leader carries an effigy of the sun. "This is a disk of wood 
ten inches in diameter, fastened to a handle perhaps a 
foot long. The disk is painted red in the center, and has 
a border of yellow. Around the edge are stuck yellow- 
tipped down feathers of some large bird. The New York 
Iroquois have no such effigies," and Mr. Parker doubted 
whether the preachers of Handsome Lake's religion would 
permit this here. My doubts go a little farther — whether 
this ever existed in New York — whether, instead of being 
a survival it is not a late invention. The Jesuit Relations 
say nothing of it, but do record appeals to the sun as a 
witness to important words solemnly spoken. 

Mr. Parker published a sun myth related by Edward 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 241 

Cornplanter, Sosondowa, (Great Night) who recently died. 
The story is so evidently in his own words that I might 
make large quotations, with some summaries. 

"This happened in old times, when there were not many 
people. There were three brothers and they were not mar- 
ried. They were hunters and had spent their lives hunt- 
ing. When the brothers were young they enjoyed the ex- 
citement of hunting, but as they grew older it did not give 
them so much pleasure. The youngest brother suggested 
that, for new experiences, they walk to the edge of the 
earth, where the sun comes down and touches the big sea 
of salt water. There is salt water west, and this world is 
an island. The older brothers thought the plan a good 
one, and when they had prepared everything they started 
on the journey. They traveled a good many years and a 
good many things happened to them. They always went 
straight westward." 

They came to a place where the sun goes under the sky's 
edge, into the water and camped there to see what would 
happen. They saw the sun get under the sky's rim and 
disappeared. Men tried to do the same and were crushed. 
*'There is a road there. Now they noticed that when the 
sky came up, the water sank lower ; and that when the sky 
went in the water, the water rose higher." 

The younger brothers wished to pass under the rim with 
the sun, but the elder brother was afraid. The others ran 
under quickly. The rim was thick and the road good, with 
water on each side. They feared the sun would come down 
and crush them, as it did the elder brother when he ran 
after them. On the other side of the sky all was different. 
They went up a large hill and then saw a large and distant 
village. Their brother came to meet them. He greeted 
them and passed by. A venerable old man soon met them. 
He was the father of Hawenio and the Above Sky Place 
people. When they met Hawenio he said, they must call 
quickly "Niawenskano." If he spoke first they would be- 
come spirits like their brother. They went on to a high 
white bark house, and when a tall man appeared they spoke 
first. They thought they had fine bodies, but he took them 
all apart, cleansed the muscles and scraped the bones, 
washed them and put them together again. Then he tested 



242 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

them in a fine grove, where his deer were. His swiftest 
buck ran by. "Try and catch him," said Howenio. They 
quickly caught him. 

As they went to the white lodge a swift messenger came 
from it. On his wide breast was a brilliant ball of light. 
He shouted something and passed on. It was the sun. He 
brought news of war between their nation and another. 
Hawenio took them where they could see the strife. "Men 
will always do this," he said, as many people still believe. 
They staid in the upper world a long time and learned more 
than they could ever tell. After a time a messenger took 
them to the path by which the sun reached the earth in the 
morning. They waited till the sun reached the west, passed 
under the rim in the east and came out in their country 
again. 

"It was night, and they slept on the ground. In the 
morning they saw their own village, and it was overgrown 
with trees. They followed a path through the woods and 
came upon another village. Their own people were there, 
and they went into a council house and talked." No one 
remembered them but their sister, now very old. It was 
fifty years since the war. 

"The brothers did not care for the earth now, but wished 
themselves back in the upper world. They were not like 
other men, for they never grew tired. They were very 
strong and could chase animals and kill them with their 
hands. Nothing could kill them, neither arrows nor 
disease." After a while both were struck by lightning and 
killed. 



DATE OF THE IROQUOIS LEAGUE 

I have fully treated of this elsewhere. Traditions vary 
greatly but all refer to a recent period. Yet some persons 
antedate this for differencing of dialects or development of 
usages, but each nation formed a group, well apart, long 
before the League was formed. History helps us in this. 
Cartier found the Mohawks on the lower St. Lawrence, in 
his second and third voyages in 1535 and '40. Not one 
remained when Champlain came there in 1603. When and 
where had they gone? 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 243 

From some records it seems probable their exodus was a 
little before 1570, and then they had to learn war before 
attempting conquests. In 1609 Champlain entered the lake 
that bears his name. He asked his Indians if the Green 
Mountains were inhabited, and was told they were and by 
the Iroquois — a name which he almost exclusively gave to 
the Mohawks. There they lived securely and in plenty. 
Yet to attack their principal towns Champlain must go 
through Lake George. Part still held Vermont, however, 
as appears from the route of those they met, which was 
from the head of Lake Champlain, where the party may 
have been reinforced from its eastern shore. Many 
Mohawks yet remained there, probably waiting to see if the 
League would last, if already formed. As late as 1655 the 
Mohawks expected war with the Senecas and were not on 
good terms with the Onondagas. The League was not yet 
helpful, though a means of peace. Thus, when Champlain 
passed through Onondaga in 1615, to attack the Oneidas, 
neither he nor they thought of interference or aid. A very 
weak League it was for many years. 

Archeology comes in here. Early Iroquois to\^ms in the 
Mohawk valley are very few, and they connect closely with 
those having European articles. One site may have been 
occupied before 1590 — none earlier than this one — so that 
the Onondagas made a shrewd guess when they testified 
that the League was formed about A. D. 1600. There I 
leave the question in its simplest form. Very plainly no 
date as early as 1540 is possible, and 1600 is quite as early 
as should be claimed. 



244 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS OF ONONDAGA 

I add a few names to Revolutionary soldiers already given 
as having lived here at some time and make some correc- 
tions. Several I had from files of Mr. L. H. Redfield's 
Onondaga Register, and these I give first. 

Joseph Chapman, early pioneer and soldier, died in Mar- 
cellus, February 9, 1829, aged 82. I have not looked up his 
record. 

Stephen Hager, pensioner, already mentioned, died in 
same town, November 22, 1822, in 65th year. He left 14 
descendants there. Town divided in 1830. 

Timothy Hannum, died in Otisco, June 27, 1825, aged 74. 

Mr. Hardenburgh, Revolutionary soldier, died in 

Manlius, October 27, 1829, in his 78 year. The name sug- 
gests N. Y. service. 

Uriah Keeler, pensioner, died in Onondaga Valley, Sep- 
tember 14, 1828, aged 69. According to pension list 
aged 74. 

Ebenezer Moore's interview with La Fayette, his old com- 
mander, was described vividly by Mr. Redfield, but no al- 
lusion was made to the pensioner's nickname. Mr. R. 
added that "Moore is now 65 years of age, enjoys good 
health, and although destitute of property, he lives very 
comfortably with the aid of his pension. He is a man up- 
wards of 6 feet high, and in youth was robust and athletic, 
and during two wars (for he was in the last) with England, 
he sustained the character of a valiant soldier." I have no 
record of his death. 

Charles Richardson, Revolutionary soldier, died at the 
Onondaga Poor House, February 16, 1828, aged 70 years, 
"unwept, unhonored and unsung." 

William Sutherland, Revolutionary soldier, died in Onon- 
daga, March 25, 1830, aged 69. 

Capt. Tousley, father of Judge Tousley of Manlius, was 
drowned in Skaneateles lake, December 20, 1815. Nothing 
was added to this, and none of these men have monuments. 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 245 

Ariel Lawrence I have mentioned before and also cor- 
rected an error made in mistaking his son's will for his. 
The error was perpetuated by a stone for the father, and 
I again certified to this. The Onondaga Register has a 
notice of a different kind, which I quote under date of 
Camillus, February 19, 1823: "Married, Ariel Lawrence, 
Esq., of Verona, aged 80, and Mrs. Asenath Lawrence of 
Camillus, aged 79, widow of late Col. Bigelow Lawrence. 
(In 1759 Esq. Lawrence courted her, but went to the French 
war and his oldest brother married her..." Ariel Lawrence, 
Jr., died in 1807. 

Henry Morrison 1 1759-1842 1 Sally Morrison |His Wife] 
1772-1863. 

This stone is in the Collamer cemetery, and I am told, 
by descendants, that he served in Vermont, but have not 
found his name in rolls, that State having very imperfect 
records. 

Timothy Teall [Died June 14, 1820 1 Aged 66 years 'and 
24 days I 

Phebe Hull I wife of [Timothy Teall [died May 3, 1 1793 aged 

34 years. 

This stone is in the Fayetteville cemetery. The record 
I have already given. Military Lodge F. & A. M., attended 
the funeral at the house, June 15th. 

John Nichols, a Rhode Island officer in the Revolution, 
was buried in Manlius cemetery, in the part originally 
belonging to Christ Church. Mrs. Charles R. Folsom, Re- 
gent of Fayetteville Chapter, D. A. R., tells me she .verified 
this through the cemetery records, there being no stone. 
He was made Ensign of the First Company of Exeter, 
R. I., June, 1778, in place of John Congdon, Jr., who de- 
clined to serve. In published Rhode Island rolls only com- 
missioned officers appear, and Mr. Nichols was probably a 
private before his appointment. This is the sole mention 
of his name. He may have been John, the son of Andrew 
Nichols of South Kingston, who married Phebe, daughter 
of John Reynolds of Exeter, R. I., July 23, 1775. 

Ninian Chamberlain, [Died] Dec. 20, 1833, |Ae. 82 Yrs, 2 
Mo. 20 Da's. I 



246 IROQUOIS FOLK LORE 

Elizabeth, I His Wife, [Died [Mar. 10, 1855,|Ae. 87 Y'rs. 4 

Mo's.l 

Owasco Rural Cemetery, town of Skaneateles. While not 
enrolled in the regular troops, I have recently learned that 
Mr. Chamberlain enlisted as a teamster. 

Wm. H. Church I Died I Aug. 20th, 1829,|aged 78 years.| 

Respected while living [Lamented though dead] 

His sanctified spirit] To Jesus has fled.] 

Molly, wife of|Wm. H. Church, | Died [Feb. 15th, 1827,] 
aged 74 years. | 

Here rests my lovely mother,] She's bid us all farewell,] 

She's left this world of sorrow,] With her Saviour gone to 
dwell.] 

Though I copied this long ago, present mention is due 
to Mr. Redfield, who published the death of Molly, wife of 
Capt. Wm. Harrison Church, a Revolutionary soldier, at 
Onondaga South Hill, February, 1828, in her 75th year. 
I made it 1827. The stones are in the Navarino, Pine Ridge 
Cemetery. 

David Nichols, born in 1763 and brought up in Provi- 
dence, R. I., enlisted in R. I. State troops June 14, 1778, and 
was discharged in February, 1779, but quickly enlisted 
again. About 1787 he married Nancy (Anna) King, born 
December 2, 1767. In 1801 they went to Pompey Hill, 
where she died November 22, 1820. The author of the 
Greene Genealogy said she had seen the scarcely legible 
stone, finely cut by her brother Joel, but then overturned 
and broken. It escaped my attention and has probably 
disappeared. David married again, went to Ohio, and died 
there November 5, 1839, aged 76 years. His second wife 
was Mrs. Abigail Brown. Probably in ruined Nichols ceme- 
tery, near South Onondaga. 

Samuel Howe,] Revolutionary War] Died 1829 ] Aged 84 

Y'rs.] 

New stone in old Marcellus cemetery. A veteran not 
mentioned before. 

Charles Morgan J Revol'ry Spy] One of the Captors] of 



ONONDAGA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 247 

Major Andre]Capt. Wm. Gilford's Co.] Col. Dayton's N J 
Keg. 1 1745-1803. 

Rachel I Late Wife of | Charles Morgan] Died | March 14th, 
1846, 1 Ae. 80 Y'rs 11 M's.| and 11 Days. 

John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart were 
the three captors of Andre. Editor Carroll E. Smith al- 
ways claimed that Charles Morgan was the original of 
Cooper's "Spy." Syracuse Post Office list, and interred in 
Morgan Church cemetery, town of Clay. 

Peleg Slocum. — Among other inquiries about this pioneer, 
a short time since, I was asked if he served in the Revolu- 
tion. He may have done so but I am not sure. He was 
born in Jamestown, R. I., January 28, 1749, and is said to 
have married Priscilla in 1782. I find no record of this 
marriage, but in 1790 he lived there with his wife and two 
children. His son Peleg R., of Skaneateles, was bom in 
Lysander in 1796, and died in Skaneateles in 1859. One 
Peleg Slocum was a captain in Col. Stanton's R. I. Regi- 
ment in 1776-7, and may have been the one in question, but 
his residence is not given. The pioneer bought a farm at 
Plainville, Lot 73, Lysander, in 1818, and he and his wife, 
Ruth, re-conveyed it to the grantor the same year. Mrs. 
Slocum died in Skaneateles December 24, 1854, aged 94. 3. 
24, having been bom in 1759. I know of no tombstones 
for any of these. 



INDEX 



Alqonquin and Wannutha 136 

Animals 220 

Atotarho, the Entangled 66 

Big Neck, the Giant 225 

Boy and Skeleton, The 120 

Boy and Chestnuts 123 

Burial 235 

Canassatego's Tale 78 

Captain George's Story 218 

Changes 209 

Condolence, The 173 

Constitution of the Five Nations 193 

Corn Stories and Customs 59 

Com and Other Foods 228 

Creation, The _ 7 

Councils 228 

Date of the Iroquois League 242 

David Cusick on the Creation 8 

Dead Feast 161 

Dekanawida Legend, The 97 

Drowning Man at Otisco Lake 128 

Duel of the Bear and Fox 58 

False Faces 36 

False Faces and Creation 12 

Fire Dragon 222 

Five Nations 152 

Founders of the League, Names of 100 

Four Onondaga Tales 238 

French Colonies in Onondaga 223 

i^'-Games - 1'^^ 

Ga-do-jih and Sa-go-da-oh 216 

Ga-hon-ga or Stone Throwers 46 

Ges-gar-doh 146 

,^^-Ghost Dance 162 

Good Hunter and Great Medicine 30 

Government and Lands 1^' 

Grave of the Indian King 131 

Great Head 124 

Great Spirit Descends, The 225 



Green Pond 127 

Green Com Dance 163 

Gun-no-do-yah, The Thunder Boy and Serpent 114 

Handsome Lake and New Religion 190 

Heno and the Serpent 115 

Hiawatha 83 

Hidden in the Husks 204 

Hinun Destroying Giant Animals 117 

How Early Animals Were Changed 215 

Hunter's Adventure, A 215 

Indian Fairies 41 

Intm-calany Month 226 

Intoning 165 

Iroquois Folk Lore 3 

Iroquois Trail and David Cusick 3 

Johnson's Legend of Kienuka 141 

Kienuka 140 

La Crosse 178 

Language 172 

Land of Souls 158 

Local Deities 169 

Local Names 232 

Local Stories 126 

Lost Arrow 136 

Lost Boy, The 51 

Maple Feast 230 

Maple and the Ash 239 

Mid-Winter Feasts 180 

Modern Questions 198 

Music 175 

New Year's Feast 168 

Neh Jog-aoh or Mythic Dwarf People 46 

Neh Ohdowas, the Underneath Myths 47 

Neh Gandayah of Fruits and Grains 49 

Northern Giants 151 

Odds and Ends 202 

Okwencha or Red Paint — 19 

Onondaga Migrations 206 

Oneida Origin 154 

Oneida Stone 155 

Origin of Thunder, Mohawk Story of 116 

Origin of Man 166 

Origin of Medicine 212 



M 10.5 



Origin of Wampum 213 

Origin of Tobacco 214 

Ornaments _ 200 

*-Other Feasts I39 

Other Serpents 113 

Peacemaker, The I44 

Peacemaker, Queen I37 

Pleiades, The, or Ootkwatah 107 

Principal Chiefs 207 

Rattles 227 

Relationship 172, 201 

Return of the Sun, The 104 

Revolutionary Soldiers 244 

Sacred Waters 129 

Serpent and Thunderers, The 15 

Serpent Stories 110 

Serpent at Bare Hill, Great 110 

Serpents, Other 113 

Seneca Story 160 

Skaneateles 132-135 

Splitting Moon or Tyah-goh-wens 149 

Some More Stories 211 

Stars, The 205 

Stone Giants 40 

Stone Giant's Wife 148 

Stone Throwers or Gahonga 46 

Story of the La Forts 219 

Story by Albert Cusick 220 

Sun. The 107 

Ta-heech-e-ha, or Two Dogs 240 

Terrible Skeleton, The 13 

The Medicine 33 

Three Brothers and the Sun 240 

Thrush's Song, The 239 

Thunderer, The 118 

Trippe's Tales, Miss 143 

Wampum Belts 102, 194 

White Dog Feast 183 

Witches and Witchcraft ^^ 

Witch Water Gull 68 

Women's Dresses 1""* 

^Women's Night Dance — ■ ^^^ 

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